My very delish Malay meal

Dan's colleague's relatives are in town and they whipped up a storm! I got lucky.. Dan brought home leftovers . I had coconut rice, sambal prawns, sambal egg, chicken rendang and my favourite... ikan bilis!!!!!! Simply the best meal I've had for the whole of Nov. I'm still salivating thinking about it!

Airflown kueh delivered by mum, dad & sis

My parents & sis arrive in Beijing tonight! Yay! I hear my dad's bringing bazhang for Dan. 

I have instructed my sis to bring ang ku kueh. That seems to be the kueh I miss eating most... nothing like a piece of ang ku kueh from the little shop across from Queensway shopping centre... the old Teochew aunties make super kuehs!  Dan likes their soon kueh and that pink thing stuffed with rice ( i can't bring myself to eat that for some strange reason). We used to drop by the shop on weekends cos it's near our place, and have kueh for tea, followed by an evening run around our estate. 

Oh to be able to jog outdoors again! 

Funny tomato!

We were prepping tomatoes for lunch when we came across this funny looking one. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?  :P

Almost martha

Martha Stewart's famous for her living ideas ranging from cooking to sewing to decorative crafts. If they sold her magazines in BJ, I may be her biggest fan. I can't believe I'm such a dork!! So why would I be a big fan? I love making stuff and I love DIY home improvement projects. Ok. Cooking - not my thing but I have tried to make simple meals in the past few months of bumming at home.  

These couple of weeks I've: 

1. Bought and put up vinyl "tatoos" for the new PVC toilet doors back in Singapore. That's the green tree made up of little hearts... which i spent the night sticking up.

2. Made a ching chong lantern for Chinese New Year which I'm going to hang up tomorrow.

3. Cooked American Ginseng Chicken soup with Maggi & Eu Yan Sang's soup concentrate ( this is quite yummy by the way. If you can't cook ( like me), this concentrate is ab fab. I think it's available in NTUC and Cold Storage outlets around Singapore. The soup is sweet and very fragrant. My only quibble was that there were too little wolfberries provided. I added more of cos I like wolfberries. Also added some baby cabbage to the soup so that we could have a 1 dish meal.  The cooking instructions said 1 litre of water but I added a bit more having bought a giant 1/2 chicken to add into the soup. It still tasted pretty good to me! 

4. Bought acrylic paint with intentions to paint my cheap ikea foldable table. I don't mean paint it in 1 color . I mean attempting to create a landscape! My artwork sucks big time. I'm still going to attempt it anyway. 

I've done other strange stuff previously in Singapore such as sew simple curtains and cushion covers, put up mosaic tiles on my wall to hide a bad paint job, varnish my parents kitchen cabinets which have suffered too much sun exposure, paint a table, paint cookie jars, stencil curtains, design and handmade my own wedding invites and wedding favors, and even inventing my own way of steaming a bun ( because I really didn't know how...) 

So... I'm glad that I've had these past few months to explore the "Martha Stewart" in me. Hmm.. I'm wondering what else would be interesting to try... pottery maybe? 

Random notes

1. The sun was setting as I walked home from the supermarket and I caught sight of the moon in the evening sky (4.48pm). Looked like the yolk of a salted egg...a very tiny egg from this distance.2. I think I may be part Mexican... coz salsa and guacamole are the only two things I can prepare well in the kitchen. On top of that, I like spicy food, fajitas, tacos and tequila. I would love to have a pinata to whack at my birthday this year... haven't whacked one since I was 8!
3. I haven't burnt down the kitchen! Last week, I made chinese-style pork rib soup for dinner, steamed baby yams for lunch ( first time I steamed anything since the siewmai and bao in Singapore) and wonders of all wonders, I made Cantonese style White fungus with lotus seeds and wolfberries dessert. All by myself. Well not entirely true... the ah yi had to tell me what goes into the pot first. Otherwise the result would have been a soggy dessert.4. Whether I'm part Mexican or not, one thing is for sure. I'm a true blue Singaporean because I keep thinking about good food... I can't make any but I sure can eat plenty! And right now, I'm thinking about Old Chang Kee curry puffs, Roti Prata, Nasi Padang near Sultan Mosque, Ba Chor mee at Crawfood Street AND my dad's fantastic fried beehoon. No one does beehoon like my dad! No one does crab, chicken rice balls, popiah (spring rolls) like my dad either. The best meals I have back home are usually made by my super chef dad!

Pan fried tomatoes with Spaghetti

Daniel cooked this for our lunch today... my job was to slice and dice.

It's a simple and fairly healthy meal that we have after over-indulging in rich food.

The original recipe came from a Jamie Oliver book but we've adapted it several times to our tastes and depending on the ingredients we're able to get.

The ingredients for my fav version:

1.Fresh cherry tomatoes ( red and yellow for color!) - halved

2. Fresh Basil leaves - hand torn into pieces

3. Fresh garlic - thinly sliced

4. Fresh Chilli- diced ( add more if you like it spicy)

5. Olive oil ( we like extra virgin for the strong flavour)

6. Bacon ( adds saltiness to the dish and if you're a meat person, just add more! Remember to cut down on salt)

7. Salt & Pepper to taste

8. Barilla Spaghetti No. 5

Cooking directions ( I watched Daniel & took notes! I didn't dream this up so you don't have to worry that your dish ends up burnt as mine usually does)

1. Boil water for spaghetti. Once water boils, add salt, then add the spaghetti. Cook noodle till slightly al dente.

While spaghetti is cooking...

1. Fry bacon, remove from fire and drain oil. Set aside.

2. fry garlic in olive oil ( in seperate pan!) till lightly brown.

3. Add chilli, stir.

4. Add tomatoes and salt to taste. Fry till tomatoes are soft.

5. Add basil & cooked bacon

6. Drain cooked spaghetti and add to the frying contents.

7. Stir fry all contents.

8. Add salt to taste if required.

9. Turn off fire then add pepper and a dash of olive oil to coat the noodles

10. Serve

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

Culinary aspirations

In an attempt to inject some element of taitai-ness into my life, I took to the kitchen again. Culinary finesse or at least ability to instruct other people to whip up sumptuous meals for you seems to be a taitai pre-requisite. And I figured since I'm not gainfully employed now, I might as well try to overcome my culinary phobia and attempt a meal or two. Last night's success gave me the confidence to try again today.

Tonight's dinner was:
1. Stir fried pork with ginger strips
2. Bak Choy with oyster sauce and garlic
3. Leftover soup from last night


Prep started out ok where I sliced ginger, diced garlic, washed veg. Then came the part where I had to slice the pork. If you know me well or seen me at a supermarket/ BBQ, you'll know that I HATE touching uncooked meat with my bare hands. I normally hold meat ( even those cling wrapped nicely) with thumb and index finger only. It's wet, slimy, squishy...! Eeks! Ah.. so I had to slice the pork. I think "chopped" would describe it better given how thick the slices were. The pork was then marinated with Lee Kum Kee Premium Soya Sauce and corn flour.

At this point, Hallelujiah... Daniel came home so I had expert supervision.

Chef Tham told me to add pepper to the marinade. Chef Tham also directed me to fry the ginger till golden, add garlic, then add meat. When meat is cooked through ( remember, they were chunks), add 1/3 cup of water followed by a dash of oyster sauce. Simmer till sauce thickens then serve. Phew! Thank goodness for Daniel because I was really at a loss with what goes into the pan first AND I wouldn't have thought about the water and oyster sauce.... And to tell you the truth, I didn't even know if the meat was cooked.

As for the veggies, Chef Tham cooked them cos her royal kitchen idiot (me) wasn't quite sure how to. Blanche in hot water, I know. Cook with sauce, I don't.

So it appears my taitai basic kitchen training still has a looooooong way to go. Maybe I should brush up on another aspect of taitai-dom instead... like buying branded bags (not interested) , or maybe yoga (too slow) or...