Gräciõ's LäveñderBliss Café

Happy Teachers' Day, Mama!

2007-09-01T14:25:00.000+04:00

I've always loved celebrating Teachers' Day 'cuz my mommy would always come back with lots of pressies for me to open up on her behalf. I remember I'll always buy a red colour ball point pen for her as Teachers' day present since I don't have much money with me during school days. Mama always smile when she receives the red pen as a pressie during this special day, though it's just a small gift, but I think she appreciates.

Many years have passed and she has retired from teaching. I must say that I really take my hats off her. She was teaching for a good long 38 years as a chinese teacher in a secondary school and every night, she will stay up till very late just to mark those papers.

Anyway, I've not been doing anything for her eversince she retired, so this year I decided to surprise her with a cake. She doesn't like chocolatey, colourful & creamy stuffs. Here's what DH & I got for her...

(Photo courtesy of Jo)

Verdict: I'm glad she likes this cake very much! :) She called me and told me that it was really good!

Thanks Jo, u've done it well again!! I didn't get a chance to try it, but I know in future I will. :)

Mama, though you've retired, you'll always be the best teacher in my heart. Happy Teachers' Day and I love U!! :)

A Good Good Meal

2007-08-13T17:02:00.000+04:00

I wanted to make something unique for dinner tonight, but there wasn't any inspiration or ideas. So in the end, I just took out the minced pork and marinated them, not knowing how I wanna cook it.

I looked around and saw the Korean Ottogi Sauce which I bought many weeks back. Hence, I decided to make Minced Pork Patties to go with it. Anyway, we've not been eating deep fried stuffs for quite awhile. I'm glad it turned out really well, DH likes it and even my indian colleagues whom I dine with everyday during lunch time. They love to say it this way, "It's very nice and tasty". :)

Here's my version of the patties. Try it and let me know how it is.

What you need:

300gm minced pork

1 red onion, diced

1 sprig of spring onion, diced
some bread crumbs
1 egg & 1 egg-white

Marinade for pork:
1 egg white
2tsp dark, light soy sauce
a pinch of black pepper & sugar
3tsp corn flour
1tsp oyster sauce

Way to go:

1) Marinade the pork with spring onion, onion and the marinade for 30mins.

2) Crack the whole egg in a bowl and prepare the breadcrumbs. Set aside.
3) Think of how big you want to make the patty, then knead to the size you want.
4) Dip the patty in the egg and breadcrumbs.

5) Heat oil in wok, when hot, either pan fry or deep fry them till golden brown. Serve hot.

Since I've got so many vegetables left in my fridge, I decided to Fry the Big Cabbage in Oyster Sauce. Yumyum!

After this whole cooking, I was totally tired out, but anyhow, I'm glad we enjoyed a good good meal. :)

All About Seasonings...

2007-08-12T15:25:00.000+04:00

I kind of love this seasonings. It contains seaweed, sea-salt and all other kinds of herbs which made it so tasty. However, I did not buy this. It was bought by my LOUSY, LOSER ex-boss for me. It's really good and sadly, it's from South Africa. I don't think can be found in Dubai... Oh well, if any of you ever go to South Africa, please remember to get this for me.. hehe...

Anyone knows whether we can get this in SG?

Here's the homepage for the above seasoning.

If ever we're leaving Dubai for good, this is something I would definitely buy and bring back to Singapore. I'm not sure whether we can get this is SG, but to have an authentic Phillipino dish, you will definitely need this.

Datu Puti Vinegar

The Weekend...

2007-08-07T16:43:00.000+04:00

Usually, weekends are spent at home, lazing around, reading, being a couch potato the whole of Fridays and Saturdays.

Friday mornings are usually spent either having breakfast at home or out. We love lazing at home in the mornings, having our ready-made dim sum which can be purchased at Carrefour here. While eating, we'll be watching Seinfeld or any other movies we have on hand. After feeding ourselves, DH will be working at his table, and me, oh well, cleaning the entire house. Hehe... I find washing toilets (or rather, my own toilets) therapeutic for me. All anger, thoughts and inspiration of mine comes from washing toilets. Sounds weird? Well, I guess everyone has their own way of finding inspiration. :)

Saturdays evenings are always dining at home 'cuz we need to "da bao" to work the next day for lunch. Curry Chicken was what I made yesterday. I've not eaten this for a long long time. Almost forgot how it tastes like. Yum yum!

Followed by an expensive fruit for dessert. I've NEVER bought this fruit here before as I found them super expensive here. But now, hehe, since I am working, I guess I just don't mind spending alittle more on food. :)

The expensive but yet beautiful fruit- Dragon Fruit

Glad 2B Back!

2007-08-06T16:45:00.001+04:00

Yes, though I've been working, I've never ruled out the option of cooking daily. It's tiring, I must say honestly. But eating out here is expensive, and most of the time we run out of ideas on where to eat.

Rather than spending tons of money on eating chinese food, I would rather cook them myself. I craved for chinese, and nothing beats to having to eat a good meal after a hard day's work.

Yesterday I made Stir Fry Tom Yam Chicken. Added some fresh mushrooms & coriander instead. It's simple and easy. That's all I need nowadays, just to reward ourselves for working so hard. Hehe... This ain't a recipe of mine, you can find it at Ching's Little Corner. Thanks Ching, for your wonderful & easy recipe, as always! :)

Was so excited when I finally found fresh Cai Xin! Look at the fresh green colour!! Okay, I might sound alittle "sua gu", but it's really not easy to get fresh vegetables, especially chinese veges here. So when I saw it, I couldn't help but just grab whatever is there. Though much more expensive, it's still very worth my money. Hehe... Oh well, that's life here. :)

A Delicious Meal for Two

2007-08-04T17:01:00.000+04:00

Okay, eversince I started working, I've had much more friends in Dubai now. Haha! (yea, of course lah)... They're a mixture of Indians, Filipinos, Japanese, Russian, German, Jordanian and yours truly- The Singaporean.

Since the indian community is the largest in Dubai, many of my colleagues are of this nationality. But I must say that I enjoy working with them more than I enjoyed working in singapore among singaporeans. Hehe... and everyday, they never fail to teach me Hindi, Konkani, Tamil, Malayalam and all sorts of languages they have. But not all can be registered through my brain cells. Too much tounge-twisting. hehe... and I even learnt how to cook some of their dishes.

Stir Fry Onions- The Indian Way

What you need:
2tsp turmeric powder
2tsp dark soy sauce
a pinch of chilli powder, salt & sugar
1 large red onion, sliced
some water
some mustard seeds

Way to go:
1) Heat some oil in the pan.
2) When hot, pour in the mustard seeds and saute till fragrant.
3) Pour in sliced onions, saute till translucent.
4) Add in turmeric powder, dark soy sauce and chilli powder.
5) Add in some water and let it simmer till onions are soft.

I love this dish, it's simple, easy, and not much preparation time needed. This is a dish which is especially convenient for people who are working and at the same time, being a chef-at-home after office hours. :)

Easy Tuna Salad

What you need:
1can of tuna (Marinade with a pinch of Herb Salt Seasonings)
1 large red onion, diced
1pc fresh red chilli, diced
2stalks spring onion
a pinch of pepper and sea-salt
3tbsp datu puti vinegar

Way to go:
1) Pour tuna out from the can into a bowl and mash them with a fork. Set aside.
2) Heat some oil in the pan.
3) When hot, pour in the onions and saute them till fragrant.
4) Add in spring onions, red chilli to stir fry them together for 1min.
5) When done, pour them over the mashed tuna, tossed them well and pour in vinegar.

Ps: I love this dish with the tint of sourness, you can add more vinegar if you want.

I also learnt many dishes from my fellow fillipinas. They taught me the easy words like "Thank You, How are you" so on and so forth. But they are easier for me to register 'cuz they sound more like Malay. :P

I love the way fillipinas cook their dishes, very similar to chinese, and this is one of it. They called it "Pork Steak". A tint of sourness, saltiness and it's very tasty. However, I turned it into a "Pork Chop" dish and tweak the recipe alittl. Try it. I hope you like it. :)

What you need:
4pcs of pork loin
1large red onion
3tsp datu puti vinegar
10ml of water

Marinade for pork: (1hour)
2tbsp dark soy sauce
1tsp light soy sauce
a pinch of sugar, sea-salt & ground black pepper
1tsp of olive oil

Way to go:
1) Heat oil in wok. When hot, throw in the onions and saute till fragrant.
2) Add in the marinated pork loins and pan fry till alittle crispy on the outside.
3) When crisp, add in vinegar and water. Simmer till pork is soft and cooked. (This step is neccessary as the pork will soak up all the gravy)
4) After this, dish out, transfer to a pan and pan-fry it till it's crispy and dry. Serve hot with rice.

PS: If any gravy is leftover (from step 3), set it aside and serve as a dipping sauce.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2007-07-30T20:00:00.000+04:00

Happy Birthday to me!

This is the first time I had so many pressies during my stay in Dubai. I guess working has its advantages and disadvantages at the same time. Thank you all for the lovely cards, SMS, calls, emails and pressies, especially my Mamanim a.k.a Jo who was the first to give me a birthday card. *Beaming*

Here are my gifts:-

Forgot to take afew more gifts which is lying at home, shall upload later... :)

Thank you, everyone! *Hugs* :)

Sorry...

2007-07-22T11:25:00.000+04:00

Dear all,

Sorry for being MIA for so long... have been busy with my work, I've been cooking daily yet too tired to take good photos.. :(

Thank you for visiting this precious blog of mine, and yes, I will be blogging again soon... pls stay tuned for more exciting updates! Hugs to all!

Love,
Gracio

Inspiration Helps...

2006-12-09T21:28:00.000+04:00

Inspired by THIS food blog, I decided to create my own dish again after a long time.

Dried Shredded Scallops with Chicken & Mushrooms

Hubby and I enjoyed this dish very much, try this if you would like.

What you need:
12pcs chinese preserved mushrooms (keep the mushroom water)
1/2 can button mushrooms,
50gm shredded dried scallops
300gm chicken parts
2pcs dried cuttlefish
3pcs shallots
4pcs ginger slices

Gravy:
2tbsp dark soy sauce
1tbsp light soy sauce
1tbsp oyster sauce
a pinch of sugar and 1tsp pepper
1tbsp sesame oil

20ml chinese hua diao wine

Way To Go:
1) Saute ginger slices and shallots in olive oil till fragrant. Then add in dried cuttlefish and shredded dried scallops. Fry for 1min.
2) Add in chicken parts and fry till a little cooked.
3) Pour in seasonings and mushroom water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for an hour or until meat is tender. Just before serving, pour in chinese wine and stir well. Serve immediately.

Since it's winter here right now, superly cold in both mornings and night, something spicy would do the trick and keep ourselves warm. Here's my fusion soup. Korean Fish Cakes In Tom Yam Broth. Yummy! I love the corianders taste and smell in soup like this. Bon Appetit! :)

November Conclusion

2006-11-30T22:00:00.000+04:00

Canned Stew Pork with Leeks

Minced Chicken with Preserved Cai Xin in Chilli Bean Sauce

Stew Minced Pork with Potatoes

To conclude, these are what I've whipped up in my kitchen during the weekdays of November. Not much, but at least some home-cooked meals for us both. Tired of eating out and spending money so often on food that we've been eating over and over again. :(

Things are great at work, just that it takes time away from me from being in my favourite place-- Kitchen. :( I miss staying at home too, missing those blissful life, not that now it's not blissful, but more responsibilites and commitment.

Staying at home, with no kids, having just a little pet and a husband to take care of, makes life easier and less complicated. Well, humans are just weird. When we stay at home, we miss working life. We're never contented and always in dilemma. :P

I dislike Saturdays, cuz Sunday is the start of the week, having to wake up as early as 545am, reaching home at 630pm. I dread the waking up, it's simply so difficult to pull myself out of our cosy bed, but once I managed to get out of it, everything seems to be easier. :)

Tomorrow's another week ahead. Time flies, I wish I have the power to stop time and make the day pass slower and also, for me to enjoy weekend more. :P

Just a note here: To Evie, Jo, Angie, Edith, Joewelle, Adrian, Fen, Sam, Pong and all my beloved friends:
I miss you all very much! C u all soon ya? :) U know what I mean. *wink*

Evie: I hope things are very well with u, I'm excited for you as u'll be shifting house soon, and I wanna say that I love you, and I miss both u and the kids very much! I wish I've wings to fly to Indo to meet u. Let's hope during CNY, miracles will happen ya? *Hugz*

Just A Note...

2006-11-22T11:56:00.000+04:00

Heyo everyone!

Pardon me for the lack of posts in this humble blog of mine. Have been real busy for the past week and both my husband and I haven't been sleeping for 2-3 days due to a giant exhibition (both our companies participated in this exhibition) here in Dubai. Hence, I didn't get a chance to cook or bake during last weekends. Weekdays were tiring enough that made me just concuss on the sofa once I'm back home.

I hope to make some good food and bakes this weekend as this exhibition would be over by today.

I'll be back! *wink*

PS: Thank you to YOU who wrote to me asking me how I am, I felt loved by you all. Thanks for being such a constant supporter of my blog too! Here's a BIG BEAR HUGZ to YOU! :)

For The Night...

2006-11-11T21:26:00.000+04:00

I've been aiming to make that dish for a long long time. 4 months has passed in the twink of an eye, and that dish has not been born. I found the recipe on my pal's food blog. We usually get to eat this dish during CNY only, as it's so called a prosperous dish and it brings good luck to us too. Oh well, since I figured out that I would only be back in SG during CNY next year, and can't wait till then to taste this dish, I decided to make it tonight since I had all the ingredients ready in my cupboard.

Thanks Edith, I love this. Thanks for posting this recipe on ur blog. I made a huge pot of this, can u imagine?! And I added tau pok too, really wonderful! :) Here's her recipe...

Can't wait to eat this for my lunch tomorrow at work. My long awaited and finally borned Fatt Choy with Braised Mushrooms & Dried Oysters.

Usually, u would see me digging out all the capsicums (or what u may call, "Peppers") out of my food. I don't fancy them at all. Infact I dislike the taste and smell of it. But strangely today, I wanted something yellowy to be added into my dish tonight. Don't we all have our strange moments too? hehe...

Whipped up my Szechuan Vegetable with Yellow Capsicum & Chicken Slices. The taste of the yellow pepper combined so well with the salty vegetable and the bland chicken. Really good, a healthy dish I would say. :)

Ingredients:
2pcs chicken breast meat, sliced thinly
1 yellow capsicum, diced
1 packet szechuan vegetable (wash and cleaned)
2cloves minced garlic

Marinade for Chicken:
a pinch of sugar & peper
1tsp ginger powder
1tsp light soy sauce
1tbsp sesame oil

Way to Go:
1) Heat oil in wok. Add in garlic & saute till fragrant.
2) Pour in chicken slices, fry till half cooked, add in szechuan vege.
3) Add in capsicum & mix well with previous ingredients in pot.
4) Add light soy sauce to taste, serve hot.

I'm Missing It!

2006-11-04T20:25:00.000+04:00

Here I am busy with my chinese dishes again. I miss being busy cooking in my kitchen on weeknights. Gracio's tired of eating out for the evenings during the weekdays. Too much outside food makes Gracio a dull girl. Haha! :P

Yummylicious foods served on the dining table tonight are....

Old Cucumber Soup. Haven't had the chance to boil soup for a long time eversince I started work. Since hubby prefers his foods to be easily consumed, I peeled away the skin of the old cucumber, added some dried squids for flavouring too. Really soothing to our throats, cooling to our bodies. :)

Fresh Tau Kwa were available for us today in the supermarket. I deep fried them 1st then add in minced pork to the dish. This idea came from one of the food blog I frequent. Thanks Ching for the inspiration. :)

Here's my Chilli Bean Sauce Minced Pork with Tau Kwa...

Ingredients:
1pc tau kwa, (deep fry in hot oil, remove & drain, slice thinly & set aside)

300gm minced pork
3tsp chilli bean sauce
1tsp dark soy sauce
2tsp oyster sauce

1tsp chinese hua tiao wine
a pinch of sugar

Marinade for Pork:
1tbsp soy sauce
1/2tsp pepper
a pinch of sugar
1tbsp sesame oil
1tbsp chinese 5-spice powder

Way to Go:
1) Add oil in wok, when hot, pour in pork and fry till almost done.
2) Add in rest of the seasonings, stir till well combined with pork.
3) Pour in previously deep fried tau kwa & mix well. Serve hot with cooked rice.

Cheesy Cheesy!

2006-11-04T18:08:00.000+04:00

I miss baking! And yep, I made Cream Cheese Muffins topped with Chocolate Chips this afternoon. Indeed it's really good, I followed the recipe stated in L's blog and made some changes to it. Also, I added cream cheese into the batter so I would have the 'cheesy' feeling which I always loved.

A good marriage between cheese and chocolates. Never go wrong with these 2 ingredients. Yummy! Hubby shared with me and we ate 3 at one go. These cheesy muffins make me keep wanting to eat them all up but I gotta stop b4 none are left for my breakfast tomorrow. *Burp** :P

Are They The Same?

2006-11-03T19:37:00.000+04:00

It has been a real busy week for me at work. Glad that EVERYTHING's TURNING OUT VERY WELL!! Yay! :) I must say that I'm missing cooking & baking so much. Hope I won't be lazy tomorrow, really wanna bake something and get my oven working for me. Hehe... :P

Managed to find Green Noodles here. Moreover, fresh ones too! Btw, are green noodles the same as spinach noodles?? The ingredient on the packet never states that it's made with spinach, but with pandan leaves juice. Nevertheless, it still tastes the same as our SG spinach noodles.

I had been missing this dish that I made a few weeks back. So tonight I whipped up my very own Gai Xi Green Noodles. Since I've left minced chicken in my fridge, I decided to use this instead, something new again. *blink blink* :)

Here's my own version for the braised mushroom sauce:

Ingredients:
8-10 slices chinese preserved mushrooms (soak & sliced thinly in water)
300ml beef stock
3tbsp dark soya sauce
1tsp light soy sauce
A pinch of sugar & pepper
3tsp chinese 5-spice powder
2tbsp cornstarch + 1tbsp water

Way to Go:
1) Add beef stock in a pot to boil, add in mushrooms and simmer for 10mins.
2) Pour in rest of the seasonings and simmer for 1hour.
3) When ready to serve, add in cornstarch mixture & stir till well mixed. Pour gravy on ready to serve noodles with minced or chicken slices.

Bon Appétit!

Long Forgotten

2006-10-27T22:30:00.000+04:00

This is a long forgotten dessert by us. When Jo bought me the white wheat beans, I thought they look so much alike with barley.

Was craving for this for a long time. Bubur Terigu is a dessert I love in SG. I don't like the beans too soft, neither it to be too hard. In between the 2 would taste just nice.

Ingredients:
150gm white wheat beans
Sugar (to taste)
3pcs screwpine leaves
200ml coconut milk or more (up to you)
water

Way to Go:
1) Wash beans & set aside. Boil beans with enough water to cover in pot for 30mins or until soft.
2) Drain and set aside.
3) In another pot, add in coconut milk, 60ml water, sugar & screwpine leaves to boil.
4) When it boils, add in beans and cook for another 30 mins.
5) Serve warm.

Good Ol' Days

2006-10-23T21:19:00.000+04:00

Woosh! The mushroomy fragrance still fills my whole home. By looking at the photo on ur right, perhaps u might have guess what we had for dinner.

It's Gai Xi Meen, u got it correct? Usually I would order either this or wanton mien at the koptiam.

Was visiting food blogs and found this recipe. (Click & view recipe)

Thanks J, for posting this recipe on ur blog. We loved it. :) I marinated the shredded chicken in sesame oil & soy sauce too. Really yummy, makes me miss those days I sat at kopitiam eating this with my cup of icy lime juice. :) *Slurp*

Lemony Lemony!

2006-10-23T20:45:00.000+04:00

Oh Yea! I've seen many blueberry, cranberry, every kind of berries, orange, pumpkin, coffee, chocolate & many more other flavours of muffins. But since I've had left tons of lemons in my fridge, I decided to make Lemon Muffins this afternoon since it's a 2-day public holiday here because of Eid Al Fitr.

The public (government) sector in Dubai gets a 4-day PH, while private sector gets a 2-day PH. Meaning, the public sector needn't work for a whole week, as our weekends here is Fri & Sat. Our 1st day of the week starts on Sunday officially. Sigh, I wish I'm in the public sector. Oh well, that's life ya? Nothing is fair. :P

I miss baking! Visited a new baking outlet last weekend and found these beautiful muffin cups.

Glad that my 1st fruit attempt on muffins tastes very lemony! I've heard ppl saying that most of the time they baked fruity muffins, they didn't add enough fruit juice and regretted. So today, I added tons of lemon juice. Therefore, the fragrance is there, except that this sotong baker here, overbaked the top layer- again!! Arrghh.. But hey, it tastes great nevertheless! ;)

All The Way From HOME!!!

2006-10-23T12:19:00.000+04:00

YES! Finally they arrived in Dubai! I wanna thank Jo, my dear friend, who went around the whole Singapore to get all these stuffs for me, lugging these heavy things to meet up with him!!!! Enjoy ur trip ya? :)

The next person would be my dear cousin, David!!!! Thanks brother, for being so kind to me, if not for u, these heavy things wouldn't have flown from SG to Dubai!! *wink*

Okay, it's really heart warming to receive things from Home. I miss all these stuffs!! Even sardines!! haha!

Simple meals in time to come, so these really helps!

Canned Foods: Sardine, Stew Pork & Peanuts!!!!

And let me tell u that this dear friend of mine, Jo, does not grumbles whenever I need her help to buy things for me. She has been really kind to help me again & again. I'm really blessed to have her as my friend. She knows me very well too, and thanks for tolerating at times ya? :) *hugz*

My Fancy Gems Biscuits, Terigu (White Wheat Beans). I miss bubur terigu so much!

Sour Prunes (To make into Sour Prunes Drink)

Magazines!! My beloveds!

Last but not least for my new found passion. A Chiffon Tin. Yay! Now I can make chiffon cakes which are my favourites! Hope I can do it well, then I wouldn't miss bengawan solo so often.

Something New

2006-10-21T20:56:00.000+04:00

Tried 2 new dishes tonight. And by the time everything is done, I was dead tired.

Never believed in cooking beef myself. It's either too hard to chew, or there're some beefs that have super strong smell even after cooking. But after making my Korean Dwen Jang Jji Ge stew, I've only had confidence in this beef. So tonight, I made Sauté Beef with Broccoli In Oyster Sauce.

Ingredients:
250g topside beef, thinly sliced
5-6cups broccoli florets

Marinade for Beef:
3tsp rice vinegar
1tsp light soy sauce
1 egg white
1tsp corn starch

Sauce Mixture:
1tbsp oyster sauce
1tbsp dark soy sauce
1/2cup water
a pinch of sugar

1tsp minced garlic

Method:
1) Whisk all marinades together in a bowl, marinade beef & fridge for 1-3 hrs.
2) Bring a pot of water to boil, add in broccoli florets. Cook for 30 seconds & drain. Set aside.
3) Mix sauce mixture together & set aside.
4) Heat oil in wok, sauté some garlic till fragrant. Add in beef, stir fry till browned. Dish out.
5) Add oil to wok again, sauté rest of the garlic & pour in sauce mixture till it boils.
6) Stir in broccoli & beef slices back to wok, mix well. Cook to heat through about 1 min & serve with rice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next up is my Chi Kut Teh. I've had too many packets of Bak Kut Teh spices in my cupboard, so I thought why not use chicken instead. Added some wolfberries too! I love the seeds inside them, would go digging them out just to chew on them. :P

Tau Suan With You Tiao

2006-10-20T17:42:00.000+04:00

Have been procrastinating to make this. My list of "To Dos" are getting longer each day, Gosh! :P

Got these beans from SG when I was back the last trip. Managed to find potato starch at Daiso here as well. So here I am, presenting my Tau Suan with You Tiao. It has been a one year since I ate this. Always 4get to eat this whenever I get to go back home. And now, we can eat it anytime, and Oh! I didn't make the You Tiao from scratch. We went for dim sum early morning today & bought these back, a good time to make this dessert finally.

Ingredients:
200g split green beans
Rock Sugar or Castor Sugar (add according 2 ur tastebuds)
800ml water

3tbsp potato starch mixed with 2.5tbsp water

Method:
1) Roughly wash beans & soak them in water for 30mins. Drain & set aside.
2) Boil a pot of water, add in beans & sugar. Stir slightly.
3) When beans are soft, remove pot from stove, pour in potato starch solution while stirring the beans mixture in pot with ur other free hand. This is important as it helps to prevent the lumpy starch mixture. Stir till mixture thickens.
4) Put pot back to stove & 'cook' the starch for 1min. Serve warm with You Tiao slices.

Rice Cake Korean Style

2006-10-19T20:40:00.000+04:00

Was in the mood of having something spicy and soupy. Yep, another Korean food for the night. Rice Cake In Spicy Soup (Ddeok Bok Ee).

The unique tube shape of the rice cake attracted me to grab them off the freezer immediately. And the tau pok a.k.a Korean fried beancurd tastes the same as our SG tau pok. Now I know where I can get tau pok whenever I miss them especially eating Laksa. Yum!

Originally, the recipe uses just spicy power and chilli paste, but I added some soya bean paste to enhance the flavour alittle, else it would be too bland yet too spicy.

Serving as a side dish, KimChi. Fiery dinner ya? *wink*

Venturing Out In2 The Working World...

2006-10-18T21:11:00.000+04:00

I'll need to get used to cooking simpler food in time to come. Good news & bad news I've for you.
Okay, let's talk about bad news 1st. I wouldn't be cooking & baking that often from this sunny onwards . Thus, my weeknights meals will be much more simpler, creative cookings by me will have to wait till weekends, and so will my bakings.

The good news: I've been hired by a japanese company as a PA to the GM. I shan't eleborate further here. This is something that I myself am amazed. Quitted my job to come here 2yrs earlier, and here I am, after these few yrs, I'm going back to working life again. Partly excited, but yet, need to adjust myself once again to working life. It's really a good exposure & experience for me, I must say.

Thanks Hubby, Evie, Fen, Joey, Cherie & all who encouraged to take up this challenge once again, another step into my life in Dubai. W/o all of ur support & encouraging words, I don't think I would dare to venture out this time & I might have missed this good opportunity.

Right, as I said, simpler meals to come soon. I love to frequent food blogs, one of them is Ching's. Today, I visited her blog again & found this. Really hassel-less & simple. She calls it lazy, but I call it super simple. :P

Thanks Ching for all ur simple recipes! I love them to bits! :)

Chicken Rice. Not a fan of it, but sometimes will miss eating this. And look at this! It's really good! Not kidding! The rice is so fragrant that I had a huge bowl of it & the fragrance of the rice fills my place even until now as I typed. Accompanying it was a Stir Fry Oyster Sauce Xiao Bai Cai. As for the chilli dip, I used the one Evie gave to me. That's the closest chicken rice chilli that I feel will go with this dish. Everything is so delish that hubby gave 10 thumbs up! ;)

Now I know preparing chicken rice is actually not that difficult. Meals need not be complicated to taste good. Simple meals can be yummylicious too, depending on how u create it.

"Dae Jeung Guem" (대장금) Night

2006-10-16T20:41:00.000+04:00

Yes! Korean food for tonight! No, not at a restaurant, but rather, at home. Am very happy with the results today. Will make these again, practice makes perfect!

These are what I cooked, favourites of all favourites! Hubby gave thumbs up for all dishes!

Dwen Jang Jji Ge
(Korean Bean Paste Stew with Vegetables)

Don't judge by its outlook. This stew is not that spicy afterall. It's actually mostly made up of korean bean paste yet not too salty, unlike our Chinese "Tau Jiong". I love korean bean paste, next time I shall try whipping up chicken with potato in this paste. :)

Kim Chi Bok Eum Bab (Kim Chi Fried Rice)

Something that korean food is never lack of. Kim Chi. I love the cruchy texture of the nappa cabbage with the vinegary taste & a tint of spicyness in this. I added minced pork to this rice dish as well. Taste good!

Oh Ee Mu Chim (Cucumber Salad)

If u love sour food & looking for something to enhance ur appetite, this is the appetizer I would recommend. This makes me want another helping of rice tonight.

Korean Shopping Spree

2006-10-16T12:17:00.000+04:00

After much hunting in this city for so long, I FINALLY found an authentic Korean Food Stuffs supplier here. Hanarum is the name of the shop. And we're staying near them too! They just shifted to this place called Karama, a place where the rentals are cheaper. But I think the food are alittle expensive in AED(Dubai's currency) form. I spent AED 95 (Sg$ 45 +-) on just these few items.

Korean Fried Soybean Curd

Ready Made Kim Chi & Soy Bean Paste (Dwen Jang)

Brown Rice Vinegar

Korean Round Rice Cake (This cost me AED20; Sg$10)

Korean Seaweed for Snacking Time

Red Chilli Powder (Go Chu Ga Ru)

It's at this place I found a friend. A korean friend. She's a mother of 2, staying far away from me, but yet, willing to teach me korean & korean cooking for free!!!! Can u imagine me screaming with joy???! I'm superly happy today that I made an effort to make a trip down to this korean store, not even knowing where the place exactly is, trying my luck sitting in the cab finding the place, going round n round the area. There are lots and lots of things in the store, can't buy all at once, else will go broke very soon. :P

Infact, I'm feeling alittle down lately. I miss my family & my friends back home. I miss the food, the convenient transportations, kopitiam and all. U name it, I am missing it. And with my grandma being hospitalised, I can't seem to visit/ see her face to face except to call her. That makes me miss her even more. But after this shopping spree, I'm feeling alittle better, let's hope things will get better n better as each day pass by.

And YES! U guys are going to see more korean cooking on my blog soon! I love korean & japanese food! They're awesome! Now, learning korean cooking is my piority! I shall go hunt for recipes!Tata for now!

Ps: Perhaps, some of u might feel this is nothing to be happy about, but to me, this is one joyful moment as it's surprising to be able to find a korean shop that sells these stuffs especially in an Arab world. *wink*

Cutey Little Things

2006-10-14T11:27:00.000+04:00

Went to Daiso yesterday & found this cute little thing. It's a Shoe Toothpick Holder. The crystal-like material attracted me to buy it. When it comes to these cutey and pretty stuffs, I have weakness to control my brain and mind not to buy these. Just like my mother. :P

Next is this Chocolate Bunny which I bought for Gaby, my bunny since this Easter. Couldn't have the heart to eat it until yesterday night while watching my favourite tv programme, 'Survivor'. Ain't this cute?

Perfect!

2006-10-11T21:12:00.000+04:00

I'm satisfied with just a plate of Bee Hoon (rice vermicelli) for dinner. Kinda run out of cooking ideas these days, probably because of my back which has been aching for days.

Tired of eating rice already, so I decided to fry some bee hoon instead. Having luncheon meat, lettuce, chicken & eggs in my fridge, I combined all into one dish with a tint of spicyness sambal at the side.

My chicken cubes were marinated in rice wine, sesame oil & a dash of soy sauce for additional taste. Luncheon meats were shallow fried till crispy too. Everything is just perfect for today.

Just In Time 4 Tea

2006-10-11T16:07:00.000+04:00

"Y have U neglected me?!!!!" It screamed and frowned at me. That's my oven!

It dawned on me that, yeah I've unknowingly cast that new passion of mine aside somehow. I stopped being a couch potato and started to get down to baking.

I miss the fragrance that fills my house when the cakes or muffins are in the process of baking. It smells wonderful, doesn't it? It makes me hungry, wanting to quickly finish up everything I've baked. :)

This afternoon, a Japanese Sponge Cake is born. I used the sponge mix packet that I bought from Daiso last week and added chocolate chips, chocolate flakes, eggs, butter, vanilla essence & sugar. Off it went to the oven. The fragrance filled my house, this is the moment I'm always looking forward to. The cake rose nicely, and here's the final product.

I sat down, with a cup of coffee in my hands, having the cake and enjoying it; just in time for tea @ 3pm. Indeed, it lives up to it's name, Spongy and fluffy! :) Just can't have enough of it!

Ingredients:
180g japanese sponge cake mix flour
30g castor sugar
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
40ml water or evaporated milk
1tsp vanilla essence
1tbsp unsalted butter
a handful of chocolate rice & chocolate chips

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 170C. Grease an 18" cake pan with butter.
2) In a mixing bowl, add egg yolk, butter, water(or evaporated milk) & beat for 2 mins.
3) Add flour & beat till well combined.
4) Add in egg whites, sugar & vanilla essence and mix well. Fold in chocolate rice & chips.
5) Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 30-40mins or till skewer comes out clean.
6) Leave to cool on wire rack & slice.

PS: I got my jap sponge mix at daiso, ingredients written here are all self invented.

DoDo Prawn Noodles Soup

2006-10-11T15:59:00.000+04:00

A little too oily I must say. But it still does brings the authentic taste of Singapore to those who are living overseas like me, people who are lazy to cook lunch for themselves and craving for Prawn Noodles.

I like everything included in this frozen cum convenient packet excluding the soup base. It's a little too oily which after drinking afew tablespoons of it, I stopped & looked around for some drinks to ease that oily-ness feeling.

Overall, I still prefer their Dry Mee Pok. Will be going to hunt for it this weekend. :)

A Song 2 Dedicate 2 My Grandma

2006-10-11T09:51:00.000+04:00

SHE is such a dear to me, in my heart, in my mind, never would I ever 4get what she has done for me. I used to be closer to her more than I am to my mama. She is the one who takes care of me eversince young, cooked for me and shower her love to me endlessly whenever I am sick. She doesn't add stress to me, she never fails to believe in me, gave me words of encouragments when I was down, and listens patiently to my musings whenever I needed someone there for me.

Now I pray she'll be discharged from hospital soon, to be healed and whole totally. I ask for strength, longevity & good health to reign in her body. This song is dedicated to my beloved maternal grandma whom Im very close to. I love u grandma! :)

今天是外婆生日

我换上复古西装载着外婆开着拉风的古董车兜兜风

车里放着她的最爱

找回属于是她的时代

往大稻埕码头开去把所有和外公的往事静静回忆

外婆她脸上的涟漪美丽但藏不住压抑

失去了爱情只盼望亲情弥补回应

大人们以为出门之前桌上放六佰就算是孝敬

一天到晚拼了命赚钱少了关怀有什么意义

外婆她的期待慢慢变成无奈

大人们始终不明白她要的是陪伴

而不是六佰块比你給的还简单

外婆她的无奈无法变成期待

只有爱才能够明白走在淡水河畔

听着她的最爱把温暖放回口袋

记得去年外婆的生日表哥带我和外婆参加

她最最重视的颁奖典礼

结果却拿不到半个奖

不知该笑不笑

我对着镜头傻笑只觉得自己可笑

我难过却不是因为没得奖而难过

我失落是因为看到外婆失落而失落

大人们根本不能体会表哥他的用心

好像随他们高兴就可以彻底的否定

否定我的作品决定在于心情

想坚持风格他们却觉得还欧颗

没惊喜没改变

我已经听了三年我告诉外婆

我没输不需要改变

表哥说不要觉得可惜这只是一场游戏

只要外婆觉得好听那才是一种鼓励

外婆露出了笑容说她以我为荣

浅浅的笑容就让我感到比得奖它还要光荣

外婆她的无奈无法期待

有爱才能够明白走在河畔

听着最爱把温暖放口袋

Great Combination!

2006-10-10T22:30:00.000+04:00

These are the ingredients left in this little fridge of mine: Leeks, dried scallops, pork steaks, belachan. I combined them together and into the wok they went. I added some oyster sauce for additional flavour, and it turns out good!

I love dried scallops, tho' I have heard lousy stories about them. I prefer to soak them for 10 mins, and return them to wok. The chewy yet alittle hard texture makes me love it even more. So try this, another new dish of mine, Leeks with Dried Scallop in Sambal Belachan.

I Love Mondays!

2006-10-09T20:45:00.000+04:00

1stly, I love Mondays because Spinneys hold their 'Market Day' on this loveable day of the week. 2ndly, there'll be lots of good tv programmes, hubby & I would be stuck on our sofa the whole night and enjoy whatever supper that we can grab conveniently at home. Sometimes, we indulge ourselves in a sinful chocolate ice-cream, on healthy days, we would take fruits and on heaty days, we would have cooling desserts like jellies with nata de coco. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chinese Preserved Mushrooms, or some people call them 'Shitake Mushrooms', are my favourites. I love the woody smell and taste of it. Cantonese Chicken Mushroom is what I prepared tonight.

I've got a really small fridge so 'clearing stocks' is usually necessary after afew days. My cabbage head has been sitting on it's large space area in that small fridge of mine for days. Out of frustration, I shredded everything and gosh, I've so much cabbage on the serving plate in the end. Haha, I'm such a sotong... but nevertheless, I'm glad that I've got much more spaces in this fridge of mine now.

Stir Fry Cabbage with Black Fungus & Dried Shrimps

Back To Normal

2006-10-08T20:36:00.000+04:00

After living close to 2 years in Dubai, I realised I've NEVER bought Tau Kwa before. NEVER thought that I would ever buy this as I don't enjoy eating it. As I was flipping thru' my collection of recipes this afternoon, the sudden urge to eat Tau Kwa came floating. Since I had more than half a bottle of Kecap Manis left over, I thought why not try something new?

So here I am, with Braised Tau Kwa Kecap Manis. Now I start to realise there's so much use for this sauce. I'm starting to feel the 'exploring cooking spirit' in me, or rather I should say, 'back to my normal self' again. :P

Here's our greens tonight, Spinach in Oyster Sauce. Anyone out there have other ways of cooking this vege? I realise they have a weird kind of taste, any idea how to get rid of it?

********************************************
Ohhh, this is delish! Evie & Jackson, thank u for the sambal that ur maid made for me. It definitely works wonders. I shall try it with fried fish the next time round. :)

Here's my Stir Fry Minced Pork In Sambal. These dearest friends of mine were kind enough to ask their maid to make sambal for me when we were in Indo visiting them in June. Really yummy! My precious sambal, gotta ration!

Sigh, living overseas is all about rationing, especially those things that u brought from back home to the country that u're living in, don't u all agree? :)

Sinful Dinner with My Cup Of Tea

2006-10-06T23:28:00.000+04:00

According to Wikipedia, Bolognese sauce is a meat based sauce for pasta originating in Bologna, Italy. Bolognese sauce is sometimes taken to be a tomato sauce but authentic recipes have only a very small amount of tomato, perhaps a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste.

If u ever see me eating pasta, it will definitely be with this sauce. Hubby loves the creamy ones, and so does my best friend's little gal, Chanelle.

Tonight, we had Fusilli Bolognese for dinner, accompanied with Fried Haloumi (حلوم)Cheese Slices. Yummy! But what a pity, hubby ain't a cheese fan and so, yours truly had the privillege to eat them all. :P

After such oily & sinful dinner, I decided to have my cup of tea. Never would I thought I could find this in Dubai. I've been missing it eversince Eve introduced this wonderful tea to me many years ago. It's actually Green Tea with Brown Rice. The roasted brown rice fragrance smells really good. Eve, U miss this? This is for u! *wink*

中秋節快樂! Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

2006-10-06T00:00:00.000+04:00

... to U, Yes! U! Who is reading this blog post now! :)

I love mooncakes, be it the traditional baked ones or snowskins (冰皮) texture. Most moonies comes with lotus paste fillings, but I would much prefer those with red bean fillings without nuts. Unfortunately, I failed to make them today. Failure because of the flour that I used, how I wished they sell 糕粉 here. Instead I used glutinous rice flour n baked them for 30mins, and the texture came out different. How sad I am, but nevertheless, this failure will not spoil my mood to celebrate mid-autumn festival. :)

Mooncakes are my favourites. My mama used to be super worried for me whenever this festive season arrives. 'Cuz I could eat mooncakes (with 4 yolks) for 3 meals a day, yes just mooncakes. It's really bad for health I know, but only once a year la, so "one eye close", pretend u don't know. Haha, that's what I always tell her so I could eat in peace. :P

Another kind of moonies I like is "Piglet Biscuits" in the basket. These never fails to top my list too. And I even kept the colourful "basket" just to bring back good ol' memories of childhood. :) Don't U love these? :P

**Photos courtesy from can.com.sg

Seafood Udon Kecap Manis

2006-10-04T19:16:00.000+04:00

Here's a really quick and easy meal tonight. The chef at home is slowing down & hooked on TVB Hong Kong drama serials.

The chef has become quite lazy these days somehow. She hopes to get out of this mode soon & get back to her kitchen, whipping up more delicious meals soon. :)

A Mixture of Teochew & Japanese

2006-10-02T21:13:00.000+04:00

Red Snapper today is so fresh that I can't resist not buying. Hubby is not a fish person, so I bought 1 small one just to satisfy that temptation.

This Red Snapper fish brings back some childhood memories of mine. My late paternal grandparents love eating fishes. Whatever fishes can be found at the wet market, they would buy and cook every week when we visit them.

Since we're Teochews, it's definitely steaming it the teochew way. And I must say, the result came back truly delicious. Thank God, papa called me & I got to ask him how to go about steaming it the traditional way.

Now, there's another new fish on my list, instead of keep on keeping on buying king fish steaks all the time.

I'm always sceptical about ordering Japanese Curry whenever eating at a Jap restaurant. Probably because of a bad experience that I had b4, the curry I ate was horrible, hence, it stays 4eva in my mind for some reasons.

As I was doing my groceries shopping today, I found this packet of Jap Curry mix, the so-called usual but yet famous "S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix" on the shelf at the Japanese Food Section. Decided to give it a go & give Jap curry a chance to prove itself to me again. Haha, indeed, it was really nice. Nicer than those at restaurants. Now I can cook my own, contented I am. :)

Japanese Chicken Curry with Potatoes, Onions & Carrots

Oreo Butter Muffins

2006-10-02T16:53:00.000+04:00

Oreos. Who doesn't love them? Usually, when I don't have cravings for these, the advertisement for this product on TV will always happen to appear at that particular time. The person who created the idea of having oreos dipped in milk then eaten is really a genius. I have been eating them this way eversince. How about U? :)

Have always wanted to bake Oreo Butter Muffins when she emailed that recipe to me. It's really delicious! This lady never fails to amaze me with her bread makings & cake bakings, am super duper glad that she's so called my half neighbour whenever I'm back in SG visiting. Thanks Angie, for taking time to type out the detailed recipe. Appreciate u very much! *wink*

Due to my greedy-ness, I added too much oreos, thus causing the muffins looks darker inside. Glad that I didn't over-bake this time round. Outside is just nice and inside is soft & moist. :) Gonna try this again but it's gonna be baked in a cake tin instead.

It's really good, try it, here's the link.

PS: Hubby says my muffins are wearing a huge "cap" over their "heads"! Haha... :P
PPS: Couldn't get mini Oreos here, that's why those big ones... ;)

TVB vs Cooking

2006-10-01T21:06:00.000+04:00

These days, I'm back to being a couch potato. It's been a long time since I got hooked on this TVB "drug". I simply love Hong Kong TV dramas. Once start, U just can't stop, always curious to find out what's happening in the next episode.

Just came back from Muscat (Oman) with hubby from a 2 days break. He went for biz trip and I tagged along. It was a good break tho' I was always in the hotel due to Ramadan which most of the shops aren't open in the day, only after 'Ifta'(breaking fast), then restaurants and shops will start to operate till late night. Ramadan is the fasting month for the muslims & it's also shorter working hours over here in Dubai. Some ends work @ 2pm while others @ 4pm. Hence our dinner is simple tonight, am too hooked on my TVB serials that I'm too lazy too cook up a storm in my kitchen. :P

Roast Chicken for tonight. Great to dip with Plum Sauce, while hubby prefers it with Maggie Chilli Sauce.

Followed by a Lazy Dish (Minced Pork with Fresh Mushrooms & Choy Sum)

Here's wishing my best friend's daughter (Celine), a very Happy Birthday! *Big Hugz**

And also, not forgetting my muslims friends, Happy Ramadan Mubarak!

Chocolate Chocolate I love U

2006-09-25T16:42:00.000+04:00

"Hintz Cocoa Powder, BEST for drinking & baking". That's what it says on the tin itself. When I saw this word "Baking" I couldn't resist & it was off the shelf immediately.

Friends who really knows me knows that I love chocolates. It's a definite luxury to sit at a cosy corner at a café, just eating chocolate muffins and having a cup of hot chocolate while reading a book is something that one can ever ask for. Don't U guys agree? :)

My hands got itchy, my brain was telling me to try out the cocoa powder, I was too tempted & I got down to bake. Haha!

Darn! I better not be so chocolatey greedy these days as ulcers are popping up in my mouth again. Guess after that whole batch of Crunchy Crackers I made last week makes heatiness come back again. Got to make some cooling drinks again, so gotta give my hot chocolate drink a miss.

Overall, I'm glad I made these Chocolate Muffins. Next time I shall add chocolate chips with 'hundreds & thousands' as decorations. I love 100s & 1000s, beautiful and bright colours makes my day.

This time, I used Lindt Dark Chocolate Excellence (with 85% Cocoa) as toppings & broke them into small pieces, didn't dare to put much as I wasn't sure whether it would turn out melted. Thank God it didn't, most importantly my muffins didn't flopped. The taste of the bitter chocolate topping blend in totally with the sweet muffin. They rose beautifully with the chocolate still sitting steadily at the top. I'm fulfilled. :)

Back To Cooking

2006-09-24T21:30:00.000+04:00

It has been a while since I blogged. Time flies, 24hrs seems way too short for someone like me wanting to do so many things. One week has passed, September is gonna say tata, and we'll be welcoming October soon.

Was on a short break from being a busy bee in the kitchen. Tonight I was keen to try out making a tomato paste based rice. I like it but hubby doesn't seem to fancy due to the beef smell in the rice as I've added some minced beef & beef stock. Oh well, can't suit everyone's taste.

Festive Rice

Celest was kind to give us some shui gow she has made. Black fungus was added too. Delicious and crunchy. And so, Shui Gow Soup to go with our rice.

Giselle, u sure would love to have this. :)

Crunch Crunch,Crack Crack

2006-09-19T13:52:00.000+04:00

No, I didn't make these from scratch in case u ask. :P My job is just to deep fry them in hot oil & that's it. Simple, fuss-free & yummy!

I bought those ready made dried crackers from Indonesia while I was visiting Eve last June. Wanted to fry them long time ago, but was too lazy, as usual. :(

Suddenly the thought of eating some crunchy crackers makes my mouth & hands itchy, that's why I got down to "work" this afternoon.

Deep fried a mixture of Vegetable & Prawn Crackers. I prefer the vege cracker while Eve's opposite of my taste.

Oke, here's 10 pcs to each of u who are a fan of crackers! :)

(The plain ones are prawns crackers)

Pandan Muffins

2006-09-18T23:31:00.000+04:00

Yay! My Pandan Muffins (recipe by Florence from KC) turn out really well, they rise nicely, and the muffin paper is easily tear apart when u wanna have a bite of it.

Probably muffins are easier to make, everything went well, no hiccups to my surprise. Wished this could always happen when I bake cakes. haha!

Bought a muffin tray last weekend from Ikea & was so eager to use it. my next muffin shall be chocolate chip muffin as I've bought a rather cheap & good cocoa powder. Hopefully within these few days I get to use it, provided I get to buy cheaper chocolate chips, the one I found cost quite a bit which I don't bear to spend a huge sum on. :P

Simply love the design of the muffin paper which has been sitting in my cupboard long time ago, bought them to keep as they're really cute. Didn't get a chance to use it until now. :P

I'm looking forward to baking my own pandan chiffon cake when the tin from singapore arrives! :)

**Click on the pic to see larger photos**
-------------------------------------------

Recipe yields about 11-12 muffins

Stuffs U Need:
200g flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp salt
100g sugar
200ml pandan coconut milk**
80ml corn oil
2 eggs

Directions:
1. Put all dry ingredients into a big mixing bowl.
2. Beat eggs then add in oil and pandan coconut milk.
3. Pour (2) into (1) and blend well. Do not over mix.
4. Fill up lined muffin pans up to 90% full.
5. Bake at 180C for 20 -25 minutes or until cooked.

**I use 200ml coconut milk powder mixed with water & add 1tsp pandan paste instead.
** If not, just blend 5-10pcs of pandan leaves together with 200ml of coconut milk.

Simply Thai

2006-09-18T22:30:00.000+04:00

"Tom yum is perhaps the most famous of all Thai soups. It is a hot and sour soup flavored with fish sauce, shallots, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, tamarind and chillies.

There are several variants of tom yum depending on the soup ingredients. The soup may be clear (without coconut) or with coconut milk (called tom yam num khon). The most famous variety of tom yum is tom yam kung, where the main ingredients are shrimp and mushrooms, with shrimp fat added for taste and a milky look. Other varieties are also available, such as tom yam kai (chicken) and tom yam thale (seafood)".

So here's my Tom Yam Thale. A mixture of prawns, fresh & button mushrooms, fish, sotong(squid), firm tofu & coriander as garnish. "Not the best that I've tasted b4, but still good",hubby said. haha!

Snow Peas are hubby's favourite vegetable. I guess he likes them cuz they are crunchy. I added Fresh Mushrooms, Fried Eggs Strips & Toasted Sesame Seeds to further entice our appetite for the evening.

Busy Evening

2006-09-17T22:30:00.000+04:00

My kitchen stove is 'neglected' by me as I've been kind of hooked to baking lately. Haven't been cooking up a storm since last thursday as hubby wasn't home.

So tonight, I am busy again after I was given a short holiday from cooking. Feels so recharged, was kinda excited as I've had many dishes running thru' my mind, just can't decide which ones to cook.

Here's the fulfilling dinner that we had, hubby's next day 'bento box' is packed to the peak, think he will enjoy having his packed lunch tomorrow. :)

This recipe is adapted from 'Periplus Eurasian Favourites' mini cook book but as usual I made some changes again.

Minced Meat with Fried Potatoes

Stuffs U Need:
Oil for deep-frying
1 large potato, diced
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
150g minced pork
150g low fat minced beef
a pinch of ground black pepper
20ml water

Seasonings:
1tbsp dark soy sauce
a pinch of sugar

Directions:
1) Deep fry potatoes in hot oil and fry til golden brown and tender. Remove and drain on paper towels.
2) Add 1tbsp oil to wok, when hot, add in garlic & onions sauté till fragrant & tranlucent.
3) Add in minced meats, stir fry till almost done, add ground black pepper, seasonings & water. Simmer uncovered until water has evaporated.
4) Serve hot with previously deep fried potatoes as garnish.

--------------------------------------

Next up is this Sauté Chicken & Mushrooms.

_____________________________

I heard from friends that "Brahim's" premixes sauces are great. Bought these afew weeks back, and finally get to use it tonight. Here's the Sambal Tumis Prawns. Really yummy, can't resist the gravy, ate spoons after spoons of it. Indeed, "Brahim's" never fails! :)

The finished product

Since we've had quite heavy dishes, I decided to have a really refreshing & yet not so oily vegetable. Blanched Broccoli Florets with Garlic Crisps I should end off with.

Perfecting My Baking Skills

2006-09-16T20:07:00.000+04:00

Am I boring u with my 'learning to bake' process? :P Hope not boy! :) 'Cuz more will be coming up.

I love butter. Anything buttery & cheesy, I would never be able to resist especially cakes.

Late afternoon today, baking mood came over me while I was sitting in front of my TV watching my TVB series. I stopped what I was doing, went to surf the net hoping to find easy & fuss-free baking recipes. Not in the mood for washing lots of stuffs, glad I managed to find one that suits my request & ingredients I have in my fridge.

Wanna say a big "Thank You" to Edith. Thanks for posting this recipe on ur blog. I had fun baking today. Hubby gave thumbs up for this Butter Cup Cake.

Of course, hiccups never fails to happen for a beginner like me. I was happily beating the butter till I saw some oil appearing. Oh gosh! I read from somewhere that if this happens, things ain't going to look good. Sigh! :( Never gave up tho' I felt like it. I stopped beating, quickly did the following steps (thank God at this stage my butter was quite fluffy already). My brain was telling me sure fail, my heart was saying don't assume failure yet as u've not begin the most important part.

Oke, so in the tin goes to the hot hot oven. I just love the smell and fragrance when the oven is starting to work while I rest. :) That's one of the "looking forward" encouragement that makes me wanna bake.

Here's my final product. Verdict? My beating of butter skills is better, and I baked it for a longer time so it would not be too moist in the inner part. The outer part is overbaked tho' I covered with an aluminium foil to prevent the top from burning but I'm glad I've improved & learned thru' this experience on how to beat the butter better.

Bottom View

Side View

Inside The Cake (Smoother ya?)

My 1st Encounter With Baking

2006-09-14T19:12:00.000+04:00

Hoho! Made Lucy's Butter Cake tonight. Was in the mood for learning baking as hubby wouldn't be home for dinner. So I'm left with either being a couch potato for the whole day or keep myself busy despite I'm sick. So I chose the 2nd option.

Procrastinate in wanting to bake this butter cake for a long time. Firstly because I'm afraid of oven, was thinking it would explode or what so ever as I've never used oven in my entire life. 2ndly, I hate the word 'Failure' cuz after spending so much and fail, the feeling ain't good.

Today, I finally touched the oven, afterall, the experience was good! Oven does wonders I suddenly realise! Now, hubby and I can make our own pizza as that was what he wanted to do everytime! I'm so happy that my oven didn't explode or cause me trouble. haha..
Actually, I encounter quite a number of hiccups in making this cake. Thank God my pal Jo is online. haha! Online teaching neh! Then one hand on mixer, the other on laptop, typing questions.

1st hiccup: Beat the butter already! Happily, I wiped away the butter on the beater & started beating the egg whites. And so, I did that. Beat it for more than 15mins and wondering why in the world the egg whites are still watery? Asked my "teacher" (was in the super "gan jeong" mode liao), then realise should've washed the beaters, wiped dry then beat the whites. So cleared the entire bowl, and did it. Oke, after this, worse, realised I 4got to add in milk to the butter!! Haiyo! What a big sotong I am lei! Gotta mix in the milk & rebeat the butter, wash everything again and beat the egg whites. *Sobsob*

2nd hiccup: I thought after the above, everything was well. And so it seems. Then, after the egg white reaches its soft peaks, I happily fold in to the butter cream. It was during this time, that I turned my head to the left and saw what was beside the stove! IT WAS THE FLOUR, the most important thing in all the cakes and bakes!! HAIYO!! Decided to give it a shot instead of just giving up, smart me, after folding in egg white, I folded in the flour & baking powder together. AIYO! Then in the cake goes to the oven. This was THE moment that I kept my fingers cross that the cake would turn out well.

3rd hiccup: Cake done, left on wire rack to cool. Went to cut it. Realised that it's warm, no wonder when I cut, it breaks easily la! (*banging head*)

The long awaited moment has arrived. Should have baked it longer, could've avoided the dense texture inside. My 1st baking encounter turns out not too bad despite so many hiccups! And my whole house smells of butter frangrance now. Rooms for improvement, Grace, Gambate Ne! Practice makes perfect, more to come! Im hooked on baking already! :P

Thanks Lucy, for ur recipe!

Thanks Jo for helping me! :)

Butter Cake

Bottom view (Smooth ya?)
Side

Inner part of the cake

The Power Of Salt

2006-09-14T11:45:00.000+04:00

I must say "WOW!" The wonders and power of salt! Yesterday, after I rinsed my mouth with salt water many times, the little lump in the left area of my mouth started to tone down alittle. Then I slept, perspire quite abit, and this morning when I woke up, the lump is gone, fever has subsided, just that now my throat is hurting with problem swallowing, & as usual, my mouth couldn't open much (feels like jaw lock). :(

Hopefully I will be completely well by tonight. Wanna eat my you tiao for breakfast tomorrow. :P

Sick & Tired

2006-09-13T20:23:00.000+04:00

Sigh, I'm sick & tired being sick. :(

Yesterday night, my left side of cheek started to swell alittle. The inner part of my mouth hurts, and this morning my beautiful mouth couldn't open. My whole body started to ache badly & body heat started to rise high. *sob sob*

After rinsing my mouth with salt water to get rid of the poison as recommended by my mama & Jo, my fever however subsided, pain in the mouth was slightly better yet the body aching remains. Now, I couldn't even talk properly, let alone eating. I knew I needed soft diets from this day onwards.

Our friends, Celest & Charles, were so nice to offer to bring me porridge & to the doctor, but I rejected their kind offer as my mouth was hurting, swallowing food & saliva makes it so much painful that one could not expect in just one afternoon. I lose my appetite, resulting me not eating the whole day until dinner time.

Thank u both, I appreciate both your thoughts!

Made Minced Pork Porridge with Oyster Sauce for dinner. Hubby had more than a big bowl while me only had one small bowl despite I was hungry as my stupid mouth was causing me so much pain. Today, I swallowed the porridge without chewing, am now hoping that the meat in my stomach will digest. :(

I wanna get well by this friday, cuz hubby promised to bring me to eat morning breakfast with you tiao!! WOW! The thought of it brings a smile to my face. And we'll be meeting both Celest & Charles for breakfast too! How fun! I enjoy going out with them! :)

Let's hope me will be well soon ya? :)

A Taste of Home

2006-09-12T20:23:00.000+04:00

Bak Kut Teh a.k.a 肉骨茶! Who doesn't love this? This is 1 thing that has been always on my mind eversince I came here. Thank God, I brought along spices with me to make this.

Yesterday was 'Market Day' at spinneys. During this day which occurs on every mondays, a whole lot of really fresh foods & fruits would be imported in to the supermarket. I would say, more fresh than the rest of the days. And guess what, I hop in to the 'Pork Section for Non-muslims only' to look at their pork ribs. They look really fresh & fleshy with not-so-many fats around. Happily, I chose one packet & brought it to the butcher to slice them up for me.

Tonight was THE night for me to make BKT. And normally I wouldn't eat the meat as they were either too fatty or not fresh, but just for me to boil soup with it. Just now, I walloped up all the flesh & left the bones only in my bowl. I simply love the dipping sauce which is a mixture of dark soya sauce with fresh chilli slices. The soup should be peppery & make me perspire. This is what I call a fabulous Bak Kut Teh. A cup of chinese tea after that would be just perfect. *wink*

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Here's my Stir Fry Fish with Ginger Slices & Spring Onions. I love this to bits too, usually would order this when I visit 'Zi Char' stall.

Afraid that hubby might not have enough to 'da bao' for tomorrow lunch, I made this Ku Chye with Chicken Slices since I still have had lots of chives left after making my gyoza.

Wonderful meal tonight. Indeed a taste of home, which I miss most. :)

Italiano

2006-09-11T21:16:00.000+04:00

Wanted to try something new tonight instead of chinese again and again. Think u all might be alittle bored with all my chee-na postings. :P

'Bavette are similar to Tagliatelle, in other words flat strips, but they contain no egg. They're delightful with creamy sauces like pesto or cream sauces.'

Hubby loves it with cream sauce, me would prefer it with tomato sauce. So both of us are totally different when it comes to Italian feast. :P

To be fair, I made it with neither of the above sauces. Instead, I stir fry them with butter, shitake mushrooms, diced white onions, chicken slices, luncheon meat & served with crunchy cucumber as sides.

Bavette Stir Fry

Bought Cambell's Mushroom Soup to go with it, hubby added to his plate of pasta & that truly satisfies the 'creamy' taste he always wanted. :)

I shall try my hands on making my own mushroom soup next time.

Azuki Beans Sweet Soup (紅豆湯)

2006-09-10T20:58:00.000+04:00

We call this 'Red Beans' (紅豆) in Singapore. Over in Dubai, it's better known as 'Azuki Beans'.

Have been wanting to eat this, or rather cook this long time ago, but kept slipping away from my 'To Do List' & mind somehow. Made this finally to nourish our bodies since we've not eaten this for a long time.

I love the stall at "16 floor" a.k.a Commonwealth Market. The aunty has been selling her famous 'Tong Shuis' for more than a decade. After our dear government revamped the old into a new market, I thought the stall is no longer functioning as most hawkers does that due to rent increase. But when I went back in Feb this year, I was glad to know that the aunty still continues with her small business. How happy I was! Even hubby was happy. Boy! I miss her cheap & good tong shui. Wanna go back again when I'm back. Thank God, my mama's home is just a stone throw away from my favourite dessert stall. :)

Azuki Beans Sweet Soup (紅豆湯)

No-Sweat Dinner

2006-09-09T21:30:00.000+04:00

After having a fulfilled day of going to China Shoe City, watching movie & eating a dim sum lunch on our friday weekend with our new couple friend in Dubai, yesterday we stayed home almost the whole day to recuperate our energy to start a brand new week today.

Dinner is simple tonight. Initially I didn't want to cook as I was in PMS mood. But after being a couch potato for 2hrs, my mood did turn better and came up with these 2 no-sweat dishes.

I still had some coconut milk powder leftover, so decided to mix in with the chicken, simple & quick. Was not in the mood to create complicated meal.

Minced Chilli Chicken with Curry Powder

Stuffs U Need:
300gm minced chicken
1pc red chilli, deseed & diced
1 red onion, sliced
1tsp garlic, minced

1 & 1/2 tbsp meat curry powder
2tbsp coconut milk powder
20ml water

Directions:
1) Heat oil in wok, add in garlic, onions & chilli pieces till fragrant.
2) Add in chicken, fry till almost done, then add in curry powder & coconut milk powder, stir fry till well coated.
3) Then add in water, simmer till water evaporated & serve hot.

Egg Doo Boo with Oyster Sauce

Creations Called My Own

2006-09-06T22:36:00.000+04:00

As U can guess from the title. Yes!, my own creations again.

I took out the chicken pieces from my fridge, and couldn't figure out what to do with it. These days, I seem to have lost touch of cooking even tho' I've been busy in my kitchen. Actually didn't want to deep fry things today, but what the hack, just do it, Grace! :P

Went searching, clearing my cupboard & realised that some powders have been left there untouched for quite some time. So decided to mix everything together, to form a dish, a yummy dish infact. Never thought that it would turn out really good.

Haven't been eating this for awhile. Bought a firm tofu last week, and decided to come out with new ways to cook it instead of the normal frying or boiling with soup.

Am happy that these 2 new creations of mine turned out pretty well, hubby gave full marks with a smiling face! :)

Here are my recipes, do try them and let me know how u feel.

Deep Fried Crispy Chicken

Stuffs U Need:
5pcs chicken breasts
50g plain flour
25g cornflour
3tbsp turmeric powder
2tbsp meat curry powder
a pinch of salt & ground black pepper
1 egg, beaten
2tbsp sesame seeds
enough oil for deep frying

Directions:
1) Sieve plain flour, cornflour, turmeric & curry powder, then add in salt, pepper & sesame seeds. Stir till everything is blended well.
2) Coat chicken with beaten egg, then with the seasoned flours.
3) Heat oil in pan, when hot, add in coated chicken pieces & deep fry till golden brown.

Tofu with Sizzling Minced Pork

Stuffs U Need:
1pkt firm tofu
300gm minced pork
1 shallot, sliced
2cloves garlic, minced

Marinade for Pork (1hr):
1tsp soy sauce
a pinch of sugar, pepper
1tsp dark soya sauce
1tsp chinese 5 spice powder
1tsp sesame oil

Gravy Seasonings:
1tbsp oyster sauce
1 pinch of sugar

Cornflour Mixture:
2tsp cornflour, 1tsp water

Directions:

1) Heat oil in wok, saute garlic & shallots till fragrant.
2) Add in pork, fry & break them up into pieces.
3) Add in gravy seasonings, thicken with corn flour mixture.
4) Pour over blanched tofu & serve hot.

For Tofu:
1) Boil a pot of water, enough to cover tofu.

2) When boiling, blanch tofu in the water for 5mins.
3) Dish out, set aside on plate.

After much washing & cleaning, now I shall rest for the day. :)

Braised Fish Steaks

2006-09-05T22:01:00.000+04:00

Braising is cooking with "moist heat", in a covered pot with a small amount of liquid which results in a particular flavour. Braising relies on heat, time & moisture to successfully break down tough connection tissue & collagens in meat. A successful braise intermingles the flavours of food being cooked and the cooking liquid.

So tonight, I made braised fish steaks using Jo's method, but used oyster sauce instead as I couldn't get abalone or mushroom sauce here. Thanks Jo! :)

鍋貼 a.k.a Gyoza/Potstickers

2006-09-05T16:18:00.000+04:00

The Japanese word 'Gyōza' was derived from the reading of 餃子 (jiao zi) or 鍋貼 (guo tie) in mandarin. Gyōza originated in China, and it is said to have been introduced to Japan in late 17th century. There are many ways of preparing gyōza, deep fried, boiled, steamed or pan fried. The most popular preparation method is called yaki-gyōza where the dumpling is first fried on the lower flat side creating a delicious, crispy skin.

I made these today for dinner served as sides. Hubby loves this so much that everytime we visit a Japanese restaurant, we would order this. I love to dip this in black vinegar with ginger slices, it gives a sourish kick to the dish when tasted. What a great combination!

Here's mine 4 tonight... I shall add more seasonings for the meat filling in future. Me, a chives lover, mixed tons of it into the meat too.

Fancy Gems Biscuits

2006-09-04T13:12:00.000+04:00

My childhood biscuits! We would call this "Tor Zai Pia" in hokkien dialect. I would frequent those old 'Mama Shop' to get these just to snack even till now. Don't know about u, but me would eat the candy, leaving the biscuits behind for my mum to eat. Hehe.. noti ya? :P

And thank God, 'Khong Guan' biscuit factory made these in convenient packets. Ooo, next trip back, I gotta remind myself to get these in bulk, cheaper & bigger packet too! Lurve these to bits! Even hubby who don't usually take biscuits, loves this! :)

Quality Time 2gather

2006-09-03T21:45:00.000+04:00

I'm pretty happy today. Hubby took off today as he was away for a week plus last week. We had a happy time spent together though we didn't really go out shopping or watch movie as we decided earlier on. Instead, we went to Coffee Bean for lunch, then headed to Gloria Jeans Café to chit chat over a cuppa.

We don't have usually have such a time like this. I mean, guys don't usually talk alot after a hard day's work, whereas women talk more than men no matter how tired we are as studies has shown. So today, hubby opened up quite a few topics & told me about his adventurous business trip. I'm just not that kind of gal who wants hubby to bring me to big malls to shop or hop into a fine dining restaurant to dine just to feel that we've at least did something today during his off day, that kind of feeling.

I prefer to laze at a café, chit chat, knowing what & how he is feeling, thinking, things like these. Next month, hubby's supposed to leave for business trip to Iran, but he gave up the opportunity to go cuz it's gonna be a pretty long trip, partially also because of me, he's afraid that I would be bored in Dubai alone. Isn't that sweet? I think so! :)

Since we had lunch outside, and I've a packet of bee hoon (Rice Vermicelli) sitting in my cupboard for awhile, decided to fry it with minced pork just like how 炸醬麵's pork is cooked. Added some eggs & cabbage as sides to go with. Nice! Glad that we saved another Sg$30 tonight.

Lousy Rendang Paste with Yummy Lettuce

2006-09-02T16:52:00.000+04:00

Bought this packet of ready mixed rendang sauce afew weeks back. I tried it out today for lunch. It was weird, the recipe calls for 200ml of water, and I only added 50ml, turned out doesn't taste like rendang, but yet smells like it. Made this with my precious chicken, and I regretted buying this paste. Tried to look for the famous malaysian brand, "Brahim's" but they only have 3 other pastes except rendang. :(

I was disappointed. The rendang I made turned out too watery, thank God I didn't add in 200ml of water, else it would turned into soup. Phew! Never will I buy this brand of paste again.

Watery Chicken Rendang

Thank God my Lettuce with Prawns turned out well, else we would just have to eat coconut rice alone.

I never liked lettuce until I ate this at a chinese restaurant here, they steamed the vegetable, and saute the garlic with oyster sauce & pour it over the vege. Yum!

Seems like my stay in Dubai, makes me loves foods which I never liked when I was in Sg. :)

French Toasts Breakfast

2006-09-01T17:25:00.000+04:00

First of all, Happy Teachers' Day to my mama & all teachers around the world! :)

Okie dokie, back to food. I love french toasts! Then again, who doesn't? :P They're so easily made, delicious especially with kaya as a dip. Oooo, I miss "Yakun" french toast set with kaya & a cup of milk tea. Thinking of it makes me hungry... :)

So today, in order to curb that craving which has been in me for quite sometime, I made french toast today since I still have some kaya left which I made few days back.

Instead of using normal white bread, I used milk bread to give it a sweeter sensation for taste.

炸醬麵 (Zha Jiang Mian) & A Wonderful Bowl Of Dessert

2006-08-30T21:04:00.000+04:00

Tonight was noodles night. Tired of eating rice for now... Hubby & I love 炸醬麵 (Zha Jiang Mian a.k.a Char Cheong Meen). We'll always eat this whenever we visit an authentic chinese restaurant. But I must say that so far, we've never really tasted one good bowl of it. All of them we tried were quite disappointing. Hence, I am always doubtful & fearful to order this, for the fear of having no satisfaction eating something which I'm gonna pay at a high price.

Saw this recipe at KC posted by a member, so was keen to try out. Originally, the recipe calls for raw vegetables, but both of us don't really like raw veges, therefore, I modified the way of cooking & seasonings too.

It was good, thumbs up! Now I need not order at a chinese restaurant whereby I'm not confident how it will turn out, rather, I could cook it at home myself. I'm glad & overjoyed! :)

Was feeling dizzy the whole day, think my blood pressure is super low, and due to our woman's monthly thingy, I realised I've lost quite abit of weight too. Sigh, have been feeling as if the whole world is spinning all day today. :(

For supper, I made Sterculia Seeds with Dried Longan & Red Dates Tong Shui for both myself & hubby to nourish our bodies for health's sake. :)

King Fish Steaks & Shui Gow Soup

2006-08-30T10:42:00.000+04:00

Better pen down my recipes b4 it's long forgotten by myself:

King Fish Steak Stir Fry

Stuffs U need:
1pc king fish steak, sliced out the meat
1stalk spring onions, sliced
1 small red onion, sliced
1pc red chilli, diced
1/2 tbsp fish sauce

Marinade for Fish:
sesame oil
a pinch of sugar & pepper
a dash of hua tiao wine
1tsp ginger powder
1tsp cornflour

How U Cook It:
1) Heat oil in wok, stir fry onions till translucent, add in spring onions & red chillis.
2) Add in marinated fish steaks, stir fry till almost done.
3) Pour in fish sauce, coat well & serve.

Shui Gow Soup

Stuffs U Need:
shui gow wrappers
prawns, devein & deshell
minced pork
water chestnuts, diced
500ml homemade chicken broth
ur choice of vegetable

Marinade for Pork with Water Chestnuts:
1tbsp sesame oil
a pinch of salt & pepper
2tsp soy sauce
a dash of hua tiao wine
1tsp cornflour

Marinade for prawns:
a pinch of sugar
a dash of sesame oil

How U Cook It:
1) Mix pork & water chestnuts 2gather in a big bowl. Marinade with above seasonings for 1/2 hr.
2) Scoop 1tbsp of the mixed pork with chestnuts onto a piece of shui gow wrapper, top it with a piece of prawn. Seal the shui gow.
3) Boil the chicken broth, add in shui gow & ur choice of vegetable till cooked. Serve when hot with rice.

MeMe: 5 Things 2 Eat B4 U Die

2006-08-30T09:57:00.000+04:00

Have been tagged by Angie, my friend & blog pal for the above meme.

Mmm, as u scroll down my blog, u can see I hardly prepare western food, cuz I don't really fancy eating them. Strangely, when I think of this 'MeMe', nothing except western sweet stuffs & fast food (except for 1 dish) came to my mind. So here's the list:

A) Plain Cheesecakes! I would love to have one which has an awfully, sinful rich cream cheese filling with a super duper crispy crust base.

B) Banana & Chocolate Crepes with a hot cup of Cafe Au Lait.

C) Mixed Fruit Tartlets. This is simply so indulging for me. I can eat many at one go!

D) Indonesia Bakmi (Mie) Keriting with heavily marinated Jamur. My all time favourite, wonder who's going to bring all the way from Indo to me? haha!

& finally,

E) A Platter of Double Cripsy-ness Onion Rings, dipped with BBQ Sauce plus a Glass of Diet Coke to end off with... :)

Do they sound very sinful? High sugar content hor? heez, that's me! Im a sweet tooth person! :P

Alrighty, now I would like to pass this 'baton' to Ching, Edith & Jo... Catch!

Promotion! I Luv This Word!

2006-08-29T21:23:00.000+04:00

Yippee yaya yipee yipee ya! Congrats to my hubby for his promotion! I am glad to say that all his hardworks has been recognised by his company. To me, I think just to be promoted within a short period of time since he joined this organization a year ago, is really God's blessings. Without Him, we wouldn't be where we are today. :)

So in order to celebrate for him on the day that he broke the good news to me, which is today, I decided to make something nutritious for him. Not an expensive dinner for celebration but rather, a simple home cooked meal instead.

Here is my menu for the evening.

King Fish Steak Stir Fry

Next up is my Shui Gow Soup which we haven't been eating for a long time. The crunchiness of the water chestnut enhances our appetite & helps to cool our bodies since it's 48degrees over here now. :)

Congrats on ur promotion again, my dear hubby! Ur hardwork is being paid off & God will see U thru' every trials & tribulations. Never give up ya? :) *Hugz*

**Pls see this link for recipe**

1st Attempt On Hainanese Kaya

2006-08-28T15:46:00.000+04:00

Everyone put ur hands 2gather & clap for Gracio! haha, ermz, yes, I 'so called' succeeded in making Lucy's Hainanese Kaya.

Why 'so called', it's because I realised that mine is not that smooth, BUT nevertheless, it tastes & it's kaya! I have been wanting to eat this for a long long time, happen to see Lucy's recipe on her blog & decided to try.

After pouring in the coconut milk, I realised I 4got to sieve it. I used coconut milk powder instead of fresh coconut as I couldn't get them at the supermarket I frequent, hence making my kaya not smooth enough. Well, practice makes perfect, I'm gonna try it till it's smooth enough. :)

Thanks Lucy, for ur guidance. Here's her recipe if u wanna try... :)

And also, thanks to Jo, who gave me tips on kaya making too! ;)

The Reason Why...

2006-08-27T22:10:00.000+04:00

Gracio's Egg Fried Rice. This is indeed simple & easy to prepare but it brings back good old memories for me.

Wanna know why? Cuz this dish was my 1st dish which I made when I was only 10 yrs old. When I'm home alone on some weekends afternoon, I would whip up this one dish meal.

The reason I started learning cooking was because my mama told me that once u know how to cook, u would not starved. So being afraid of starvation as I was a greedy pig, I started to learn cooking from my grandma, and slowly, loving it. :)

A Gift From A Friend

2006-08-26T19:49:00.000+04:00

Karen, my Singaporean friend in Dubai went to Canada for business trip last week. Today, she came by and gave me these. I felt touched & happy indeed. Boy, heard from here that their Chinatown is so much better than ours here!

We spent alittle time chatting, it was also kind of her to teach me how to use oven for bakings & grilling. Me, being a mountain turtle, has never used an oven b4. hehe.. glad that I had 'live' demo today. Now I know what is suppose to be in & out of the oven when it's working for me. And I'll be going down to Carrefour when hubby comes back to hunt for cheap and good bakewares. :)

Gaby was happy too, to see her here, cuz for the past few days, was just me and him, guess he's a little bored by Mama already. So he kept running around, following us wherever we go, and being a Kpo everywhere, seeking attention. Hehe.. Quite funny actually, to see him suddenly so active. :)

After she left, I felt abit lonely, suddenly the house seems so quiet and I'm alone again. Then Gaby went back to his favourite area to 'hybernate'. Sigh, 4 more days & counting down...

Thanks Karen, for buying these for me. U're appreciated! :)

老婆饼 (Wife's Biscuit)

Caramel Waffers

Simply Dinner

2006-08-25T19:35:00.000+04:00

My dinner was neither fried noodles nor a soupy one. Since I bought cabbage yesterday, so I thought, why not make Stir Fry Cabbage with Minced Pork & Dried Shrimps? It's been awhile since I ate my favourite dried shrimps. The feeling of eating something which I have not taken for a long time feels so shiok. hehe... Anyone feels the same way too? :P

Normally when hubby is on business trips, I wouldn't have the prompting to stir fry stuffs or even cook porridge. The most I would do is snacking 24hours a day. This time, don't know what came over me, hands started to itch, wanting to cook. It's just something that never happens b4. Probably my body is telling my brain to make something nutritious to gain some weight. Now, I'm back to 37kg. On the verge of being blown away by the wind someday. :P

Hopefully time will pass faster. I've got enough time on my own with my bunny. Gaby's missing the Big Guy's (hubby) hands to sayang him. My small hands just doesn't seem to be able to compete with his jaddy's hands. haha! :P

Another day just ended in a twink of an eye. I'm now counting down to Wed. :)

Black Sesame Paste (Hak Zi Ma Wu)

2006-08-25T15:06:00.000+04:00

Made Black Sesame Paste for myself this afternoon, stomach isn't feeling so good today. Thank God this came to my rescue to ease the painfulness & sourish feeling that has been churning in my stomach since morning.

I've always loved black sesame paste as compared to other pastes like almond, walnut, or whatever paste u name it, I don't take it. Don't know why, but the black colour & fragrance just draws me to it. Hehe... :)

Thinking of whipping up fried noodles tonight, but then again, lazy to fry, probably noodles soup? Mmm, stay tuned to find out my dinner tonight... :P

Easy Dinner

2006-08-24T19:01:00.000+04:00

Stir Fry Bok Choy with Minced Chicken

Since my hubby is away on business trip till next Wednesday, I decided to cook something simple for myself. Really simple this time. And I found Hae Bee Hiam in my fridge, hubby doesn't like this, he gets turned off by the smell n taste of it cuz of the bad experience he had when he was in the army donkey years ago. Hence, when he's not around, I get to pamper myself with this. Fried this with rice, indeed it is good! :) I like...

Hae Bee Hiam Rice

Gracio's FIRST Successful Steamed Cake In Her Entire Life!

2006-08-23T18:25:00.000+04:00

Hallelujah!!

NEVER would I thought that I would succeed in steaming this!! YIPEE!! Shucks, I think Im gonna be hooked on baking very soon. Haha!

This is my 1st cake that I set my hands on after I got my mixer. Indeed, that Philips mixer did help me alot, tho it's rather heavy and my right hand was aching like crazy.

I think it's time for me to get a steamer. This so called 'steamer' that Im using, is rather bad. I used a pot to steam, and this pot, is rather lousy. Time to get one real soon. heh heh.

This cake has been on my "to do list" for quite a while. I tried making this earlier on but failed. Finally, the long awaited moment of success has come. Credit goes to Jesus & my mixer. Hehe!! I was glad that it turned out well, but alittle dense in the inside, not super spongy though. But at least this looks like a cake to me. haha! the last few times was ultimately bad. Hehe..

Another thing that I was amazed & surprised was that the colour layering came out rather pretty & even.

It's amazing how a batter can be transformed into a beautiful cake after much beating. Was just wondering who ever invented this thing called cake in this world. Haha!

Ok, the top part's a little ugly cuz I went to poke 3 holes to check whether the middle part is fully steamed.

Overall, I am quite contented with my FIRST cake that I made in my entire life. haha! But Im not gonna be proud, cuz I know there's always roomSSS for improvement. I know I can do better, with much practice and patience. :)

My 1st Steamed Eggwhite Rainbow Cake, recipe by Zu. Thanks Zu! :)

Wantons dinner

2006-08-20T18:46:00.000+04:00

Actually I don't fancy boiled wantons, only those deep fried ones tempts me. Whenever I order wanton mee, I will tell the aunty to give me more char siew, no wantons. Haha! And the aunty will always look at me thinking that I'm some weirdo. But it's for the better so she can save it to those who loves them.

Eversince I came here, I start to miss them. Don't ask me why, the craving did came once b4 and today. So I went hunting for the skin and made my own filling. Yummy! The taste is delicious, better than the "Parklane Wanton Mee", the filling they give is always so little. Mmmm, wondering whether they are still around?

While I was deep frying these, I was so tempted that I munched 5pcs at one go. Haha! I just love the crispy outter texture and when u bite it, the feeling is so satisfying. :)

Hubby gave thumbs up for it! Yay! :)

Gracio's Deep Fried Wantons

Next up is my Wantons in Bubble Egg White Soup. Was tired of the egg flower pattern so did this instead.

Followed by a Stir Fry Bok Choy with Cocktail Sausages.

Korokke Tonight

2006-08-19T21:23:00.000+04:00

Since I had some breadcrumbs left from making tofu the last time, I decided to make Edith's Korokke tonight. Yummylicious tho' the colour doesn't look very orangee..

Thank U Edith for this recipe on your blog. The smell of the breadcrumbs still fill my place, I just love the smell. :)

Here's her recipe if u wanna try. :)

Breaking News: Gracio's 1st Step Into Baking!!

2006-08-18T21:08:00.000+04:00

Hohoho! Guessed what I bought today?! Those of u who know me, knows that I have no interest in baking at all. The thought of dealing with flour, just puts me off!! The last few times I tried to bake, or rather steam a cake, everything turned disastrous!! And worse, the whole kitchen table & floor was filled with flour. Arrghh, how pissed I felt that time.

My best friend Evelyn, was telling me to learn baking the other day. And I was telling her, no way am I going to start learning as I have had bad experiences last time. So she went, "okok, don't learn then."

Mmm, so after reading the above, u would wonder why I still buy this mixer ya? Reason's very simple, hubby's going away this coming tues for a week for business trip, leaving my little bunny and I at home. And this trip, he would be away during the weekend as well, that leaves me bored at home, no need to whip up nice meals, so on and so forth, and I can say that I'll be the "free-est" person in the whole wide world. Sigh...

After thinking for afew days, I decided to get this hand mixer. Learn to steam a cake or bake one just to occupy time. 24 hours a day for that week's gonna be too long for me, while I know the rest of u seems to think that time's too short. haha! :P

Oke, now I shall begin my adventure of baking & beating eggs this coming week. I must admit I'm feeling alittle fearful, expecting to fail all the time & no confidence at all. Well, at least I'm prepared to buy tons of eggs & flour.

Hopefully, my journey in baking will take off well after much practice, I know there's a whole lot of u who are good bakers are always there for me ya? Hehe... :)

Alrighty, this is my new "toy". Let's hope my 3 minute enthusiasm in baking will last. Wish me all the best ya?! :)

Hae Mee a.k.a Prawn Noodle

2006-08-18T20:59:00.000+04:00

Prawn Noodle has always been on my "To Do List" and today, FINALLY, after much procrastinating, I did it!

Hubby did not enjoy as much as I did 'cuz he's not a prawn person. But it's oke, once a while must cook something I like.

Only that my soup's alittle bland, think I added too much water.

Overall, I enjoyed what I ate today. :)

Authentic Thai Food by "Ban Khun Mae"

2006-08-18T20:34:00.000+04:00

We went to Mall of Emirates today to have our lunch & groceries shopping.

As the title goes, we had thai food today at the food court. "Ban Khun Mae" is the name of the stall, in english it means, "My Mother's House".

Abit costly tho', for a plate of my kway tiao costs about Sg$12.50 for a plate, hubby's curry costs the same as mine. The worse was, we ordered Poh Pia Phak, 4pcs of spring rolls cost us about SG$6. Didn't take pictures of the spring rolls as they looked pathetic. *sob sob*

Phad See-Eiw tastes abit like our char kway tiao in Sg. Stir fried large rice noodles with Thai broccoli, carrot, beef and egg.

While the Panaeng Curry Dish served with Jasmine Rice is a famous thai curry with panaeng curry paste in coconut milk with chicken.

Hubby was saying I could cook better than them. Haha! Was I feeling happy in my heart! :)

A little costly isn't it? :P

Phad See-Eiw

Panaeng Curry served with Steamed Jasmine Rice

Fulfilling Night

2006-08-16T20:39:00.000+04:00

Fresh egg noodles available in the supermart today!! And dinner tonight's Mee Goreng with a refreshing dessert to tone down the oily-ness.

I miss those days whereby hubby & I would sit together with David & Theresa at prata shop, enjoying teh tarik, milo cino, eating pratas & mee goreng, chatting away till wee hours in the morning. I love the indian style Mee Goreng, will never get tired of eating that.

Hubby was very encouraging, gave me a 110% marks for this & said "this is excellent!" Am glad he likes it, brings warmth, confidence and love to my heart. Thank Q... :)

Stuffs U Need:
fresh egg noodles
ur favourite vegetable
1 small red onion, sliced thinly
2pcs chicken fillet, sliced
1 potato, diced, boiled in water, set aside
50gm beansprouts
3 eggs, lightly beaten (fry & minced finely)

Seasonings for Chicken:
1tsp light soy sauce
a dash of sesame oil

Seasonings for Noodles:
2tbsp dark soya sauce
2tbsp kecap manis
2tbsp tomato ketchap
5tsp sambal
1tsp water

Directions:
1) Heat oil in wok, add in onions, fry till translucent. Add in chicken to fry till half cooked.
2) Add in beansprouts & vegetable, stir fry till vegetables half cooked.
3) Add noodles & stir, followed by diced potato & egg.
4) Pour in seasonings, make sure all ingredients are well coated. Serve hot.

Oke, cheated on this Tofu Fa a.k.a Tau Huey. Checked out Ching's post yesterday & I screamed with excitement immediately! haha, wanna know why? 'Cuz I wanted to try making this from scratch, but I don't have a blender yet, agar agar powder that I brought along with me from Singapore are very precious, so I can't afford to fail otherwise the powder will be wasted. :P

I recalled seeing that packet of tofu mix somewhere here, and I thank God that UAE caters to that small number of japanese here. Alright, tell u the truth, may sound abit weird but I lose sleep over this packet of tofu mix last night & was so excited about it that I went down early morning just to find this, keeping my fingers crossed that it'll be on the shelf. I know I would disappointed if they run out of stocks or for whatever reasons, that is.

This really and I mean REALLY, satisfies my craving for tofu fa. The 3 'S' that meets the criteria of a tofu fa: Silky, Soft & Smooth. Thumbs up! This was done within minutes.

Thank U, Ching!, for posting this on ur blog, if not, I know I would never buy this. :) *Hugz*

Kon Loh Meen Dinner

2006-08-15T20:23:00.000+04:00

I just love chinese food. Dunnoe why, but western dishes doesn't "spurs me up" unless I'm craving for one. hehe...

Tonight was a one dish meal again. Very satisfied with this. Me being greedy, added alot more ingredients to balance the meal. It has been ages since I ate Kon Loh Meen. And surprisingly, the dried egg noodles I used turned out very well. Thank God I didn't overcook it, if not it'll turn soggy which I dislike most. :)

So here's my version & hubby gave thumbs up for it. Do try and let me know how U feel about it.

Gracio's Kon Loh Meen

Stuffs U Need:
egg noodles (dried/fresh)
ur favourite vegetable (blanch in boiling water & rinse under cold water to stop cooking)
chicken breasts meat, steamed & shred
crabsticks, halved
egg, pan fry & sliced into strips

Seasonings for Shredded Chicken:
2tsp sesame oil

Seasonings for Noodles:
1tsp premium oyster sauce
2tsp sesame oil
2tsp dark soy sauce
1/2tsp of black vinegar
1tsp garlic oil
a pinch of sugar & pepper

How U Cook It:
1) Boil a pot of water, when boiling, blanch fresh noodles for 8 seconds & rinse under cold water to stop cooking. If u're using dried egg noodles like me, blanch in boiling water till softens & rinse under cold water. Set aside once done.
2) Heat alittle oil in wok, pan fry crabsticks till crispy on the sides.
3) Mix noodles in seasonings till well coated & top with crabsticks, shredded chicken, vegetable & egg.

Note:
*For me, I poured hot boiling water over the noodles & drain b4 I toss them with seasonings as hubby loves hot food.

Childhood Meals

2006-08-14T20:30:00.000+04:00

Today I whipped up dishes which reminds me of my childhood days. Since young, my beloved grandma would take care of me while my mama was teaching. Hence, dinner is always prepared by my grandma. I love this whenever she prepares it. But it's quite unhealthy cuz it's alittle salty. Usually when I make this, I would add alittle of each sauce to balance the taste.

Another dish by her which will stay dearly in my heart.

My Grandma's Cabbage Rice Bowl

Serves 3

Stuffs U Need:
1/2 chinese cabbage, shredded
1tsp minced garlic
8pcs chinese preserved mushroom, soaked & sliced thinly (leave the mushroom water 4 later)
some minced pork
2 & a half cups uncooked rice (adjustable)
water (depends on how much rice u put in)

Marinade for Pork:
a dash of sesame oil, sugar, pepper & hua tiao wine
1/2tsp chinese 5 spice powder
(Leave for 1/2 hour)

Seasonings:
2tbsp oyster sauce
2tbsp sesame oil
2tbsp dark soya sauce
2tsp chinese 5 spice powder

a dash of hua tiao wine
a pinch of sugar

Directions:
1) Heat oil in wok, add minced garlic, then mushroom, stir fry till fragrant.

2) Add in pork, fry for 2 mins, then add in cabbage & some water.

3) When cabbage softens, dish out everything & set aside.
4) Wash rice in rice cooker/pot, add in the previously fried ingredients, mix well with rice.

5) Pour in seasonings & stir well, make sure everything is well coated.

6) Add in some mushroom water & water as per how u would cook ur rice. Garnish with sliced red chillis b4 serving. Bon Apetit!

Stir Fry Beansprouts with Onions may be simple & easy to prepare, but yet, this is one vegetable dish that my mama would buy for me for lunch whenever she gets to knock off early from school. I love to eat this with white rice & char siew. The cook at her school always give her lots of bean sprouts as they knew this is my favourite vegetable. :)

Stuffs U Need:
bean sprouts, roots peeled away
1 red chilli, sliced thinly
3 sprigs scallions, sliced

1 small red onion, sliced thinly
2tsp minced garlic

Seasonings:
1tsp fish sauce
a pinch of sugar
2tsp hua tiao wine

Directions:
1) Heat oil in wok, add in garlic & onions, fry till fragrant/browned.
2) Add in scallions & red chilli.
3) Add in bean sprouts, fry till softens.
4) Pour in seasonings & serve hot with rice.

Good Ending Today!

2006-08-13T20:10:00.000+04:00

I hate deep frying, but Zu's Tofu Balls tempted me.

I added red fermented beancurd, sliced red chilli (these 2 tips were given by one of the bloggers who left a comment in her post) & breadcrumbs to coat. I usually don't like red fermented beancurd, the smell of it turns me off. But curiosity arose in me and also, the little bottle has been sitting in the fridge. It was really worth the try & effort, the whole thing was marvellous. We ate this with plum sauce as a dip. The whole texture is exactly crispy on the outside, soft in the inside. Hubby loves tofu and am glad he likes this. Another keeper recipe in my book. :) Thank U Zu! :)

**"Doo Boo' means 'Tofu' in Korean.

Doo Boo Balls with Breadcrumbs

Coming up next....

Heh heh! Was thinking of ways to cook chicken today. My brain ain't working well today, abit slow also. *Sobsob* Went to browse thru' Edith's blog, saw her Lemongrass Chicken!! Cuz I just bought lemongrass & didn't know what to do with it. *Staring at the blank walls today, sigh, brain just froze... U can imagine how excited I was. I added some dark soy sauce and fresh red chilli to enhance the colour of the dish. Thanks Edith! It was great! Definitely another keeper recipe! :)

Lemongrass Chicken

At the end of the day, I was glad that everything turned out well today. Phew! I wasn't in the mood to cook (while preparing the ingredients, I was thinking I would fail in cooking today as confidence just vanish somehow), brain wasn't working well, and to make things worse, something happened in the afternoon.

I was waiting for my turn to pay the internet bills at the shopping mall. I was there queueing up for more than 15 mins. And this idiotic guy came out of nowhere and cut my queue. That's not all! The most frustrating part was he argued with me that he came 1st, dhuz... was he blind???! In the end, I "debated" loudly with him & he kept quiet. Arrghh! Moral of the story, don't see a small size lady & think she's easily bullied. She can be a chilli padi at times! :P

A Mixture Of Taste

2006-08-12T20:02:00.000+04:00

I was thinking of a vegetable which I haven't been cooking for a donkey years. Guess what it is? It's cabbage. This used to be my favourite vege as my grandma usually cook this with mushroom & oyster sauce. When I was young, I could eat this dish all by itself without any rice going with it. But today, I wanted to try something different instead of using just oyster sauce alone.

So here's another recipe of mine. :)

Cabbage In Hot Bean Paste & Oyster Sauce

Stuffs U Need:
1/2 a cabbage, sliced/shredded
some prawns, devein & deshell
1/2 lean pork, sliced thinly
8pcs chinese preserved mushrooms, soaked & sliced thinly
some carrots strips
1tsp minced garlic
1 small red onion, diced
1 fresh red chilli, de-seed & sliced thinly

Marinade for Pork:
1tsp sesame oil
a pinch of sugar & pepper
1/2tsp chinese 5 spice powder
a drizzle of light soy sauce & hua tiao wine

Marinade for Prawns:
a pinch of sugar
a drizzle of hua tiao wine

Sauce Mixture:
1tbsp oyster sauce
a pinch of sugar
2tbsp spicy bean sauce (dou ban jiang)
10ml water

Way To Cook This:
1) Heat oil in wok, add in garlic & onion, fry till fragrant.
2) Add in mushrooms & carrot strips.
3) Add in lean pork meat, cooked till almost done.
4) Add in cabbage, pour a dash of hua tiao wine & stir well with other ingredients. Simmer till cabbage is soft. (Add some water if it's too dry.)
5) When cabbage is soft, add in prawns & red chilli.
6) Pour in sauce mixture, coat well with other ingredients & serve hot with rice.

Wanted to try this out but procrastinated till today. Adapted this from a magazine but good me, modified the way of cooking & ingredients again as I was too lazy to bring out my steamer. :P

It has a little sweet & sour taste as plum sauce is used to make the gravy.

Enjoy this Stir Fry Chicken with Piquant Sauce. This is good! :)

Stuffs U Need:
3pcs chicken breasts, sliced
1/2 fresh red chilli, chopped
1 stalk spring onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced finely

Marinade for Chicken:
1tbsp light soy sauce
1tbsp hua tiao wine & 1/4tsp pepper

Sauce Mixture:
previously chopped chilli & garlic.
3tsp sesame oil
3tbsp plum sauce
1tbsp light soy sauce
1tsp white rice vinegar
4tbsp water

Way To Cook This:
1) Marinade chicken for 1/2 an hour.
2) Heat oil in wok, add in chicken to stir fry till almost done.
3) Stir sauce mixture in, mix well with chicken, bring to a boil, simmering for 2-3 mins.
4) Dish out, garnish with spring onions b4 serving.

Let's Go Light!

2006-08-11T20:44:00.000+04:00

Singaporeans perhaps call this a wrap, but over here, it's called Shawarma! We had Chicken Shawarma tonight for dinner. :)

Hubby & I love this "HOT BURGER" shop by the road side. A very small shop but with very nice false ceiling. It's a super low cost dinner, a small shawarma cost about Dhs 3 (SG$1.50). So everytime when we feel we don't want to spend too much on a meal, we would normally go for this. :) Fulfilling & delicious everytime without fail. Always love eating this, and they do sell fresh juices too!

I'm glad that this shop is just a street across our home, & thank God that we're staying at the central area which is quite accessible to good food & places too.

How it looks like from the outside...

Fillings inside: Chicken pieces & Lettuce

ChowKing's Home Deliveries

2006-08-11T17:14:00.000+04:00

Was too exhausted to make dinner yesterday. Thank God hubby is understanding & we decided to order from ChowKing. It's actually a fillipino chain restaurant which sells chinese food. I realised they love using purple cabbage as their main ingredient. Mmm, quite Ok for me since purple cabbage here is expensive. :)

We ordered...

Wanton Soup

Hot & Sour Soup

Chicken Hakka Noodles

& a...

Nasi Goreng Special

Their egg for nasi goreng's not always the same. Sometimes it's sunny side up, which hubby likes, at times is like the pic above. Oh well, still good afterall! :)

Double Spicyness In A Macaroni Bowl

2006-08-10T18:00:00.000+04:00

Usually I wouldn't take lunch but since I had afew chicken pieces left from last night's dinner, I decided to whip up this Macaroni Chicken Belachan with Tom Yam Flavouring for myself. The tom yam flavouring was taken from "Koka" instant noodle. Nice!

Wonder why I did lunch today? Cuz' I did a 5hour housework & I couldn't 'tahan' that hungriness. Boy, was I super dead beat! Am contented that this simple lunch turned out delicious! :)

Gracio's Dinner Today!

2006-08-09T19:38:00.000+04:00

Okie, before I start blogging, here's a big "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SINGAPORE!". Hubby & I are missing home already.. I wanted to watch the "live" broadcast of SG National Day Parade, but the stupid Mpeg kept buffering non-stop & in the end, I gave up. Arrgghhh... Tuned to Channelnewsasia and there was nothing but news. Dhuz... How disappointed I was.. :(

Bought bean sprouts yesterday, while peeling off the root part of the sprouts, I realised that I didn't buy enough. Haiyo! But found more ingredients in the fridge, so decided this would be a Minced Pork, Bean Sprouts Stir Fry instead. :)

Was at a lost of what to do with the defroze chicken suddenly. Then God gave me an idea to whip up this delicious chicken dish. So happy that it turned out really good. :)

Gracio's Chicken & Prawns In Belachan with Curry Leaves

Ingredients:
afew curry leaves
2pcs chicken breasts, sliced thinly
prawns, devein & de-shell
1pc fresh red chilli, deseeded & sliced

Marinade for Chicken:
a dash of fish sauce
a pinch of sugar, hua tiao wine
1tsp cornflour,
2tsp sesame oil
1tsp chicken marinade by LKK
1tsp garlic, minced finely

Marinade for Prawns:
a dash of hua tiao wine & sugar

Sauce Mixture:
1tsp dark soya sauce
a pinch of sugar
1tbsp water
-------------------
5tsp belachan

Method:
1) Heat oil in wok, add in garlic, fry till fragrant, add in chicken pieces, fry till 70% cooked.
2) Add in sliced red chilli, prawns followed by curry leaves.
3) Add in sambal belachan & stir fry till all is well mixed.
4) Pour in sauce mixture, mix well with other ingredients. Simmer until all is well done. Enjoy!

I really thank God that He gave me talent & passion to cook. :)

Sour, Sour, Sour!! Love It!

2006-08-08T21:01:00.000+04:00

This is my 2nd time making this wonderful dish. Recipe's taken from KC but I modified it again. hehe... Surprisingly, hubby slurp everything up, usually he doesn't like sourish stuffs.

Give me anything with vinegar I'll wallop up for u! :)

Black Vinegar Chicken

Ingredients:
chicken breasts, sliced thinly
1 large red onion, sliced thinly
4 cloves garlic, minced finely
1 small red fresh chilli, de-seed & sliced
8pcs chinese preserved mushrooms, soaked & sliced

Seasonings:
a dash of light soy sauce
a pinch of sugar
5tbsp chinkiang black vinegar (depending on how sour u like)

2tsp cornflour mixed with 1tsp water

Method:
1) Heat oil in wok, add in garlic & onion, fry till browned.
2) Add in sliced mushrooms, fry till soft.
3) Add in chicken slices, fry till almost cooked.
4) Add in sliced red chilli.
5) Pour in seasonings & mix well with other ingredients, let it simmer for 1 min.
6) Stir in cornflour mixture; make sure it's blended well & serve hot.

I usually don't like potatoes. Usually only take it when it's mashed. :P Mmm, while browsing thru' the supermarket, ways of cooking potatoes start to cross my mind & was inspired to get afew since we've not eaten this boiled in soup for quite awhile.

Potato Soup with Crabmeat & Tofu in Chicken Broth

Ingredients:
1 russett potato, peeled & sliced in chunks
3pcs crabmeat, halved each
1pkt soft tofu, sliced
1pc pork loin, sliced thinly
some toasted onions
1 clove minced garlic
500ml homemade chicken broth

Method:
1) Heat alittle oil in pot, fry garlic till fragrant.
2) Add in potato chunks, pork loin, stir well with gralic.
3) Pour in chicken broth, cover pot, simmer till potatoes are soft.
4) Add in tofu & crabmeat. Serve when it's well done with toasted onions. Enjoy!

These few months will be super duper warm over in Dubai. So was inspired to make tong shui that are cooling. I hate ulcers... hopefully, will go away soon! Arrggghh...

I don't like the soup to be sticky due to the sago pearls, so I par boil them & add them into the soup when green beans are about done. :)

Thanks to a member of KC who taught us to boil the sago 1st, when mostly are done, turn off the heat & cover pot to let the sago "cooked" further. Indeed, this method is good! :)

Green Bean Soup with Sago Pearls

Curry Macaroni

2006-08-07T19:11:00.000+04:00

As I scroll down Zurynee's food blog, I found this recipe. I've always loved fried macaroni, and was getting tired of my own fried version, so decided to try this. This is special cuz curry powder is used, and just in time to carb my craving for spicy food. :)

But instead of using mixed frozen vegetables, I used bok choy instead & added egg slices too. :)

Here's her recipe, but I modified here & there. :)

Thanks Zu, for this wonderful recipe.

Here's mine:

Ingredients:
some macaroni, boil till al-dente
chicken breasts meat slices/ other meat u prefer
1 large onion, thinly sliced
5 shallots, thinly sliced
1tbsp garlic, minced finely
1 1/2 tbsp heapful meat curry powder, add a bit of water to make it into a paste
3-4 tbsp ketchup
Bok Choy
2 eggs, beaten
spring onions, sliced

Marinade for Chicken:
a dash of soy sauce, sesame oil & sugar

Method:
1. Heat oil in wok, pour in egg mixture & fry till crispy, set aside. (Break them into little pieces)
2. Add onion slices and fry till translucent.
3. Add minced garlic & fry till fragrant.
4. Add chicken slices, cook till meat is done.
5. Mix curry paste in, stir till well blended.
6. Add bok choy, then add ketchup & a dash of soy sauce, add alittle water if it's dry
8. Once bok choy is cooked, add the macaroni & egg pieces; mix it well, let it cook till slightly dry.
9. Serve hot with fried shallots & spring onions.

Healthy Day

2006-08-06T12:23:00.000+04:00

Hubby always say pork porridge is my famous dish. Haha! Im so happy. :) But yesterday, instead of making pork porridge, I made Bubur Ayam a.k.a Chicken Porridge. Hubby's throat wasn't well, hence we stayed home the whole day, watching dvds.

Both of us are overdosed by CSIs' series. There's such a craze over here these days. There'll be more than 2 CSI series here sometimes, then there are times that there ain't any good shows/series to watch. Dhuz... Think the programmer of the TV station gotta wake up man! Usually, sundays programmes are typically lousy. Wonder why...

Ok, back to food, I had a bunch of broccoli florets & prawns left in the fridge, decided to make Blanched Broccoli with Prawns topped with Garlic Crisps. :) Good & healthy. Great!

Ingredients:
1 bunch broccoli florets
3pcs prawns, devein, deshell & halved
some garlic crisps

Seasonings:
a dash of sesame oil & mushroom soy sauce

Method:
1) Bring some water & a pinch of salt to boil in pot, when boiling, add in broccoli florets, blanch for about 7 mins. When done, dish out, place on plate.
2) In another pot with boiled water, blanch prawns until turned red/pink. Arrange on top the florets.
3) After arranging, pour in seasonings & sprinkle garlic crisps. Bon Appetit! :)

ShangHai Nian Gao (Rice Cake)

2006-08-05T14:41:00.000+04:00

Have been wanting to try this long ago. I'm glad that I did it today for lunchy finally. Happy that hubby likes it, he says taste like kway tiao just that it's bigger in size. Dhuz...

I used oyster sauce instead, but after eating a few spoonsfuls, I added some chilli sauce. More delicious infact, will try frying this with sambal belachan the next time. Should be much better & tastier.

Looking at this pic, I think the nian gao I bought resembles abalones. Haha! :P

Okie dokie, here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
1pkt shanghai nian gao, soak overnight till it softens
some bok choy
some minced pork
chinese preserved mushroom, soak & sliced thinly
2cloves garlic, minced finely
1tbsp oyster sauce

Marinade for Pork:
1tsp soy sauce
a pinch of sugar, pepper & cornflour
1tsp sesame oil

Method:
1) Heat oil in wok, add in minced garlic, fry till alittle browned.
2) Add in mushrooms, fry for awhile, add in minced pork & bok choy.
3) Pour in nian gao/rice cake, fry together with other ingredients.
4) Mix in oyster sauce, 4tbsp water & a pinch of sugar, fry till all is well coated. Enjoy!

Honeydew + Ice-Cream

2006-08-05T14:24:00.000+04:00

Summer days will not be over until Sept. Sob Sob... And it's like 48 degrees in the day. Think this is part of the reason why these days I'm always looking out for cooling desserts to make. Having terrible sweet tooth craving these days.

Decided to make Honeydew Sago in Vanilla Ice-cream yesterday. I didn't puree the honeydew as the recipe calls it 'cuz I didn't have a blender or a buzzer. hehe.. But glad it still turn out well. I too, added nata de coco & sago too. Wanted to add mint leaves but realised that I 4got to buy. :(

Honeydew In Vanilla Ice-Cream

Since I still have some (about 3tbsp left) chocolate ice-cream left, am adventurous to try out how honeydew goes with chocolate. A pity that I prefer vanilla tho', perhaps next time I would add more choco flavour in it, probably will taste better, creamy-ier & thicker. But yet, I'm contented with both desserts. A creative way to eat ice-cream, maybe next time I'll try adding rock melon instead, they are our favourites! (once I start on a tub of ice-cream, u'll never c me stop until someone tells me to...) :P

Honeydew In Chocolate Ice-Cream

My Craving Is Satisfied

2006-08-03T20:10:00.000+04:00

Gotta ration my Mee Siam Paste from Prima Taste. Yum yum!, is all I can say. Finally my craving for Mee Siam is over till... (dunnoe when) Hopefully, not so soon. :P

This is sooooo delicious. Easy to make, simple to cook, I'm satisfied. :)

Mee Siam with Prawns, Chicken & Egg

Followed by a cooling, sweet, yummylicious dessert. Our all time favourite in SG.

Chin Chow with Longan

Thy Dinner Thy Night

2006-08-02T20:32:00.000+04:00

Haiyo! It's been quite afew days I stepped into my kitchen to pick up my wok & spatula. Poor hubby has been eating macdonalds these few days for lunch. Am glad that my cousin came & brought me foods & magazines! =) But he left and will only be back on Sun as he gotta fly to Dublin. Nice place! Hope to go one day.

Been eating out these days, celebrating bday, anniversary, bringing my cousin around for a day. That's why cooking was out of the question the last few days.

Today, I restart my adventure in my favourite place, that is my kitchen. Sounds weird but I really miss cooking & eating my own home-cooked food. Do u all feel the same way too at times? :P Yes, I do... I must say this is my second time feeling this way. I was lost at 1st of thinking what to cook, how to cook and all the confidence-less thoughts kept running thru' my mind. In a twink of an eye, dinner is ready & served. Wonder how I do it. haha! Amazing! I must say I miss cooking!! :)

Alrighty, here's thy dinner for thy evening.

Remember the post about China Shoe City? I wanted to try out the Szechuan vege. Indeed, it was good. =)

Szechuan Vege with Marinated Minced Pork

Serves 2
Ingredients:
2pkts szechuan vege ( I usually wash it 2-3 times to get rid of the dirt)
1clove garlic, minced finely
150gm minced pork

Marinade for Pork:
1tsp light soy sauce
a pinch of sugar, salt & pepper
1tsp cornflour
1tsp hua tiao wine

Method:
1) Heat oil in pan, add garlic, fry till fragrant. Add in minced pork.
2) After pork is halfway cooked, add in szechuan vege. Stir fry for 2 mins.
3) Add a pinch of sugar, fry till all is well done. Bon Appetit!

Egg tofu has been sitting in my fridge for quite awhile, so decided to make Stir Fry Egg Tofu with Prawns, Chicken & Vegetables.

Ingredients:
1 tube egg tofu, cut
4 stalks spring onions, sliced
5pcs tiger prawns
2 chicken breasts, sliced thinly
Some carrots strips

Marinade for Chicken:
1tbsp soy sauce
a pinch of sugar & cornflour
1tsp olive oil
A dash of hua tiao wine

Marinade for Prawns:
A dash of hua tiao wine
A pinch of salt

Seasonings Mixture:
1tbsp oyster sauce
1tbsp sesame oil
a pinch of sugar
1tbsp water

3 cloves garlic, minced finely

Method:
1) Heat oil in wok, fry garlic till browned.
2) Add in chicken, fry for 2 mins, throw in prawns to stir fry together till well done. Dish out.
3) Heat 2 tsp oil, shallow fry egg tofu on both sides till alittle crispy/browned. Set aside.
4) Add alittle oil, fry some garlic, spring onions & carrots till fragrant.
5) Return all other ingredients to wok, pour in seasonings mixture & mix well. Serve.

SzeChuan Style Chicken

2006-07-31T17:01:00.000+04:00

Made this a long way back. Forgot to post this on my blog.

Got this recipe from a member in KC who got it from the website. The original recipe is supposed to be served cold, but hubby prefers it to be hot; thus I modified this to make it a stir fry dish & also to suit our "hot" dish preference.

Ingredients:
3pcs chicken breasts meat, sliced
1 slice of ginger
1 section of green onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk of cilantro, sliced finely
1 tsp ginger powder
1tbsp green onion, minced

Marinade for Chicken: (1hr)
1/2 tsp ginger juice
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
1/2 tsp salt
a pinch pepper

Seasonings:
1 1/2 tsp chinkiang black vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp spicy bean paste (dou ban jiang)
1/2 tbsp light soya sauce
1/2 tbsp sesame oil

Directions:
1) Mix the minced garlic, minced green onion , sliced cilantro and ginger powder with the seasoning in a bowl to make the sichuan sauce.
2) Heat 2 tsp oil in a wok, add in ginger slice & green onion to fry till fragrant.
3) Add marinated chicken to stir fry for 3 mins.
4) Turn off heat, dish out & pour seasonings over the chicken. Mix well & serve hot. Enjoy!

I must say that I love this dish. It's definitely a must try. Thumbs up!

U can get spicy bean paste @ all supermarket. I use Lee Kum Kee brand.
I bought my chinkiang black vinegar from wet market.

Ku Chye with Minced Pork & Egg

2006-07-31T09:00:00.000+04:00

Ingredients:
200gm minced pork
300gm ku chye (Chives)
2eggs, lightly beaten
1 clove garlic, minced finely
2tsp olive oil
a drizzle of hua diao wine

Marinade for Pork (1hr):
2tsp dark soy sauce
1tsp sesame oil
1tsp cornflour
a pinch of sugar, pepper & chilli powder

Sauce Mixture:
1tbsp oyster sauce
1tbsp water
a pinch of sugar

Directions:
1) Heat 1tsp oil, fry egg, minced them finely with spatula, dish out & set aside.
2) Heat oil in wok, add in garlic 2 fry till slightly browned.
3) Add in marinated pork, fry for 2 mins.
4) Stir in ku chye, hua diao wine & let it sit for a min or so.
5) Return egg to wok & pour in sauce mixture. Make sure all is well coated, simmer till all is well done.

Bon Appetit!

The Day Ends With Love...

2006-07-30T22:19:00.000+04:00

Oops, I hope u all are not bored by the last 2 posts about my birthday treats. Just wanna share what we had for the past days. =)

Alrighty, I promise this will be the last time. :)

Before I begin anything, I wanna sincerely thank Jo, Edith, Giselle, Angie, Evan, Rachel, Fen, Ah Pong, Kuan, Sam & those whose names are not mentioned here, for sending me their birthday greetings. This year, I have the most number of people who send me their well wishes over sms/overseas call/online messages. Thank U so much, I'm very touched by all of u. =)

We went to Dome for dinner. Service was okie, cannot ask for too much here. We had Risotto & Deep Fried Chicken Chop. Their risotto has always been good & so is their cheese cake, but after having the chicken chop, my stomach told me it's time to rest. dhuz... :(

When the plate of chicken chop was served, it didn't look good to me, but when tasted, Boy, were they good! =) Now I have one more on my list to order whenever I visit Dome. :)

Chicken & Mushroom Risotto

Deep Fried Chicken Chop with Potato Ball

I saw Edith's melon tong shui & was tempted to make. I used melon strips (tong dong gua) instead & added longans too. The taste is great! I call this "Blissful Tong Shui".

Hubby bought me Dunkin Donuts (they're my favourites) as my birthday cake. Unique & yummy!

Thank U Hubby for making this day special & possible. :)

A Contented Birthday Gal

2006-07-29T21:54:00.000+04:00

Clockwise:
Hua Diao Wine, Liang Fen (We call it "Chin Chow"), Wang Wang Xue Bing (Snow Biscuits), Black Sesame Paste, Shanghai Nian Gao (We call it "Fujian Rice Cake"), Cai Xin, Pong Dai Hai (Sterculia Seeds), SzeChuan Vegetables, Chan Pui Mui (Preserved Orange Peel) & Dan Huang Bing (Egg Cake)

Finally, Karen & I went to China Shoe City. So excited when we made appointment to go there together, it has been a super duper long time eversince I went there. Even 4got the route there, until today, when Karen drove, I realised that waaa, so near my home lei. haha! Yay! So u must have guessed how joyful I was when we reached. *wink*

China Shoe City is a place whereby the chinese from China sells all the imported stuffs to wholesale here. They, of course sell shoes, vegetables, titbits, bags etc... 40% of the chinese foodstuffs we use in SG can be found here too. I'm so glad that Dubai gave them a chance to import and set up wholesale market here. =)

Most of the foodies I buy are in 2s or 3s, so took them out as not to duplicate them... ;)

After that, we went to Brands for Less, a wonderful place that sells crockeries, kitchenwares, cutleries, clothes(more of this), at a more reasonable price. Many flock there whenever the new stocks arrive at noon & 7pm. I bought a white satin tablecloth, a set of 4 placemats & a set of 2 grog glasses that comes with 2 stirring sticks. Im so contented today!!!! Didn't get to shop so happily for a period of time, after getting married I felt me love to shop more for homewares & groceries than clothes! Anyone feel that way too? :P

Strangely, don't know why, but Im not as excited as last year that the next day (30 Jul, according to Dubai's timing) is going to be my birthday. Weird... guess it's gonna be a day that I'm gonna spend alone as hubby's off to work tomorrow. Hopefully he would be able to take leave on Mon to spend our 2nd year wedding anniversary together. :) But I'm glad that the things I bought, he sponsored all of them for me.

Birthday Treats Come Earlier This Year

2006-07-28T18:52:00.000+04:00

Dubai's hit by sandstorm today. Everywhere we went was blur & driving was alittle tough. Thank God it's friday, our weekend here, not as many cars on the streets as compared 2 the usual weekdays. Phew!

Hubby was extremely nice to me, not that he's bad to me on other days lah... We went for breakfast @ Caribou Café followed by a great movie "Pirates of The Carribean", then a sumptous Korean lunch @ Shogun.

Tho' not as exciting, but glad that efforts are made to make sure at least I've had happy birthday treats.

Mmm, I must say that I'm not a high maintenance person, a small treat or a little card does makes me delighted, no need to eat at a luxurious place or spend so much just to make me feel on cloud 9. I'm blessed with a good husband, in a blissful marriage, surrounded by great family members & friends around me. Contented & pleased with what I have, that's all I can say. =)

Sharing with u what we had for today... ;)

Early in the morning @ 10.30am...

Breakfast

Hubby's Almond Croissant with Medium Cappucino

Mine was a Cheese Croissant with Small Latte

Late in the afternoon @ 2pm...

Lunch

Korean Sides/Appetizers

Beef Bibimbap

Kimchi Stew

A napkin prepared 4 u, just in case u drool! hehe... :P

Went Easy Yesterday

2006-07-28T09:03:00.000+04:00

Sometimes canned food does wonders. A girl friend of mine went to China Shoe City last week and got me salted egg & black bean canned fish. I was happy to find out that they do sell this canned fish which I missed so much. When I was in sg, my mom, who doesn't know how to cook, would always make me eat this with porridge over the weekend. Thus, after eating this frequently, I start to love it, but must confess that it's alittle too oily, better to drain away the oil b4 steaming it.

Black Bean Fish

Salted Egg

As I know hubby doesn't like the aboves, I specially fry Ku Chye (Chives) with minced pork & egg for him. It was my 1st time frying this chives, manage to find this at the thai market nearby. So happy that he likes it! I like teochew "ku chye kueh", miss eating that dipping with sweet sauce. Ahhr... think now I can make my own since now I found the main ingredient.

Ku Chye with Minced Pork & Egg in Oyster Sauce

I'm so glad that yesterday dinner turned out pretty good though simple.

可不可以不勇敢 By 范玮琪

2006-07-25T21:04:00.000+04:00

可不可以不勇敢

你用浓浓的鼻音
说一点也没事
反正又美又痛
才是爱的本质

一个人旅行
也许更有意思
和他真正结束
才能重新开始

几年贴心的日子
换分手两个字
你却严格只准自己哭一下子
看着你努力
想微笑的样子
我的心像大雨将至
那么潮湿

我们可不可以不勇敢
当伤太重心太酸无力承担
就算现在女人很流行释然
好像什么困境都知道该怎么办

我们可不可以不勇敢
当爱太累梦太乱没有答案
难道不能坦白的放声哭喊
要从心底拿走一个人很痛很难

Currycraze days

2006-07-24T22:16:00.000+04:00

Great! My a year & a half rice cooker died-ded on me just after the rice was cooked. Haiz, think for the next few days, we're going to eat anything except rice. Now I'm looking forward to saving my own pocket $ to get a brand new rice cooker.

Just as I'm typing out my thoughts here, I realised that our meals these few days consists of curries. Not long ago I just did a Thai Chicken Curry, yesterday we had Pepper Chicken Curry, & today Prawn Curry. Haha! How amazing that we have had so many curries dishes within a week or so. ;)

Saw Jo's tangy prawns on her blog & was tempted to whip up that. Just as I thought, it was excellent! Hubby & I ate it with coconut rice & the remaining gravy was used as a dipping sauce for our "baton" bread.

Tangy Prawns In Red River Curry

Served with Coconut Rice & "Baton" Bread

Since we had quite an unhealthy main course, I decided to make Vege Pot with Minced Meat & Egg to balance the whole meal. Haha! :P

I tried making Gattina's "Balloon" Chocolate Cups, passed at the 1st stage but failed when transferring them to my fridge to chill, everything collapsed. *Sobsob* And to make things worse, I've got a small fridge. :(
So as not to waste the chocolate, I still made a Peach with Choco Flakes dessert instead of a "Balloon" cup. Im pleased with myself. hehe...