Thursday, November 27, 2008

sticky sticky !

There...this is the glutinous rice ball ive been wanting to make for my roast chicken's side..

I didnt use the flavour of the original glutinous rice which uses dried shrimps, prok lard, pork, mushrooms and seasonings..

I tried doing this using, bacon, butter, garlic, mushrooms, salt, pepper and herbs..rolled them into balls and placed them on sheets of korean dried seasoned seedweeds.

hmm, the taste is fine, but, something seems to be missing in the flavour, i wonder what is it...

I've popped a few into my mouth and tried to taste what is missing...i cant pop all of them into my stomach, i'd get bloated haa..think i'd get brother to try later =)

yes, this glutinous rice balls would do, just need to enhance the flavour a little bit more !






That HUGE THIGH !

The long awaited HUGE CHICKEN THIGH is out from the oven !

I have been waiting for today to try how it tastes like.

Oh ! Disappointment, i would say..the meat is tougher compared to my 1/2 chicken that i preciously used..the meat is also quite chewy, hmmm....not a very good choice..

Fine ! I'd stick to my 1/2 chicken =)

Wow, i almost finished the whole thigh, i managed to stop at half of it, haa..thats enough..


Okay, this thigh is out of the menu ! maybe for other recipes ? =)




New flavour !

Thought of something and i went ahead to try them.

Dark chocolate coconut cookies with walnuts.

I figured these 3 would go well together so i gave it a shot..

The shot was BULLS EYE !

Nice cookies, cripsy, nutty from the walnuts, chewy from the coconut and they are not too sweet !

Would be giving some to Aunty Doris to try tomorrow, sorry Er yi, your vegetarian fast is still not over yet =)

Wow i have a Big....tub of them, who has been good this year ? i'd be Santa and give you some haa !



Burger burglar ! haa


Ah i made a vegetarian burger for mum's dinner tonight !
Looks good, i find haa, i used beans, peas, tofu, flour and seasonings for the vegetarian patty.
CLAMPED the patty with spinach, tomatoes, mustard and ketchup, served with baked sliced potatoes seasoned with black pepper, salt and olive oil..
Could have done better with the chips, not crispy enough, mum enjoyed her dinner =)
i think it looks like meat patty from here haa !

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Hmm, not your usual cheesecake..

Trying a new flavour for my cheesecake.

Coconut rum with chocolate chips ?

My first attempt on this flavour wasnt really a success, RUM taste was too strong, too heavy, cant really taste the coconut and it was overly bitter due to excess RUM.

Well, this is the 2nd try, with some changes to the base and flavour, needless to say, the size of the cake pan.

I bought smaller pans to make smaller cakes =) small sized cakes are cute.

For this base, i used real shredded coconut to give it a slightly chewy texture.

After tasting 1/4 of the cake...my verdict would be...okay i'm going to try again haa...ahh...

I could taste the coconut but RUM seems to be missing in it, and adding those chocolate chips didnt blend into the texture well enough, the cake is creamy and then u come across something hard and that is the Choco. Chips, wrong wrong wrong...maybe next attempt, i'll mix in melted chocolate instead.

Due to the reduced size of the pan...some of the propotion for my ingredients were wrong, i have to tune them back into place..hmm...this is going to take me some time...

We shall wait for the next attempt...*Phhhht*

Last one for the day !

Some of the lamb i gave to Timothy to bring home for the rest of his family members to try.

Haa, actually, i gave him salad, mashed potato, pasta and these to bring home for Aunty Doris supper =)

As you can see, Terena has already eaten the LAMB !!

Lamb chop, let's play along ~ i forgot the next line...haa..

Lastly, for myself..


Ahh...*wipes sweat*
My dinner !
Marinated a piece of lamb yesterday, wanted the whole chunk of meat but didnt know how to tell the uncle, so in the end, he gave me a piece of it...i'm trying to roast a good chunk of lamb =)
Anyway, dinner was some mashed potato topped with a few slices of roasted lamb and salad with home made dressing as my side dish.
Good dinner, i like the flavour of my lamb, i would definitely buy another CHUNK and try again, i have to get the flavour right... heh heh..
if i cant do beef, i'll do lamb, you can count on me =)

Oh and this snack


Oh, i almost forgot..i made this snack for boys too, my deep fried fish..If i ever get to serve people with my fish n chips, it would be something like this, i've thought of serving small pieces of fish instead of 1 whole piece, most people would choose to use Dory fish, i'll make it with Batang Fish..wooo...
My batter is still in the making, this was just a quick batter to deep fry them =)
Empty plate...haaa made only 5 pieces...

Mum's !

Hmm, managed to stir fry a vegetarian pasta for my mum's dinner.

Done it using tempeh, yellow peppers, pasta, seasonings, basil, crushed red chilli flakes, salt and black pepper.

Oh yes, mum loved this dish =)

I took some for sampling, nice !

My 3 little cousins !

Haa, first picture was the lunch i served them.

and 2nd one...are my 3 cousins !

Starting from my left, that is Timothy, the eldest among the 3, followed by Gabriel and Yanghan a.k.a Noob Leon !

Haa, actually i got them to post a picture for me so i could post it up, they were very supportive !
Thank you, cousins ! now, you all know nothing comes free in this world ? HAAA !!

Had a great day with them, i like serving them haa !



No vegetables = no game !


Haa sorry, if you dont eat your vegetables, you cannot play games !
Just kidding, but i had to make balanced meals for them, vegetables cannot be ignored.
I roughly chopped up some broccoli, carrots, zuchinni, mushrooms, brinjal and corn.
Stir fried them with olive oil and garlic, seasoned with black pepper and salt, added my own stock to braised them until they are soft.
These were served at the side of the pasta plate for their lunch !
Wow, games are really keeping them busy haa !








Cousins INVASION !

Uh huh !

3 of my cousins came to my house today ! Timothy, Gabriel and Yanghan !
They came to play my PC game as they are all having their holidays now, so bored to stay at home the whole day, we decided to get them to come for a whole day of fun.
Ahem, needless to say, i was the chef of the day ! HAA

I prepared this baked pasta dish for the 3 of them. They loved it and the whole tray got polished off =)

I had my fair share too, hmm...yum yum ~

they were hungry =)















Monday, November 24, 2008

Just playing around =)


Haa i'm just having some fun with plating..
Hmm..yes, plating can be fun, you try to organize your food in this or that position to make them look nicer, this is where your own imagination comes into play.
Lately, i've been thinking of how to plate for a better presentation, so i'd be trying and trying and trying..
Well, for this meal of mine, which is lunch, i wanted to make deep fried fish with some mashed potato and vegetables, but i ran out of egg ! and brother wouldnt be coming home tonight as he is on duty, there wont be anyone to help me finish them and soooo....i did something simpler, i pan fried the fish with flour instead of deep frying it, i'm trying make a recipe for the batter i'm gonna use for my fish n chips.
I like my mashed potato, i mashed them up with cauli flowers too, lets have some vegetables =)
Um...and i placed a roasted chestnut on the mashed potato HAA !
There you go, it was fun !
Haa, i'm gonna do this more often =) nice meal, alittle small, though..

In the end, i baked them =)

Haa okay okay...after soaking them for a couple of hours, i chose to bake them for 30 mins and then chilled them in the fridge.

Took 1 piece to try, oh yummy, i dont know what should i call or name this, baked cucumbers with raisin ? Haa !

Mum tried one too, hmm she said, tastes nice, sweet and smells great..

Someone give it a name HAA !

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Who wants to try ?!??! ^^,





Done !
Woo smells great..
Scooped a bit for brother to try, i didnt tell him what meat were those until he asked, " eh kor, what is this, mutton ? "
Me : " Huh no lah, u just eat and see if its nice "
Brother : " Quick, tell me, this doesnt look like meat to me.."
Me : " Chicken liver and heart lah "
Brother : " Wah er xin, na, give you, i dont dare to eat "
Haaa so, in the end, i ate that plate of baked potato mash with chicken liver and heart...
I find that it tastes good, just that thinking i'm chewing the heart of a chicken.....yes that sort of grossed me out alittle too ! HAA
Haa i'll give some to my aunt to try tomorrow =) or who wants, raise your hand !

This scared my brother off ! HAA !








Bought something a little more unusual today, chicken liver and heart HAA
I wanted to stir fry them to eat with my bowl of rice or something else.
This is my first time handling chicken liver and heart, so i thought..hmmm why not i try something special out of them.
Made some chicken stock, chopped up some garlic, onions, spring onions, boiled some cauli flowers and potatoes.....
Stri fried the chopped chicken liver and heart with the garlic, onions and spring onions, deglazed with some red cooking wine, added some chicken stock and let them cook for a while, lastly, added some flour to thicken it up.
Mashed the potato and cauli flowers with some butter, black pepper and spring onions..
Spreaded them over the chicken liver and heart, baked them for 20 mins then another 10 mins with mozarella cheese..
Waiting waiting and waiting to try this..








Finished !

Okay they are done !

Seasoned them with apple cider vinegar, sugar and korean chilli flakes.

In the go into my fridge !


Haa i kept eating the pineapple bits when i was cutting them up..



Cant just waste them like that


I think if you want to be a good cook, you must first learn how to appreciate food, by appreciating food, you must learn not to waste them, so after slicing off the skin of the cucumber for my ah char, i didnt want to throw away the inner core of the cucumbers, i thought of something that might or might not work, it just came to my mind..
As cucumbers are rather tasteless, more like crunchy something filled with water..maybe adding some spices and flavours to them might be easy.
I tossed them up with some raisins, honey, brown sugar, bailey's choco mint ( i love the smell of it ) cinnamon stick and star anise.
I tasted a small piece of it, hmmm smells very good n the cucumber is a little sweet from the mixture of honey n brown sugar and smells a little of the creme from the baileys, i'm soaking them in the syrup for a while, might roast them or eat them cold, i'll decide later =)
Hope this recipe turns out fine, or better, great ! =)

My Ah Char !


Hu hu, i'm going to make my own ah char today.
Started off with marinating the chopped vegetables in salt for maybe an hour.
I like more variety of vegetables in my ah char so i 'm going to make it with cabbage, carrots, cucumber and pineapple, was thinking of adding cubed apples too, but nevermind, will do them next time =)
waiting for an hour to pass by..




Incredible !

Wow something new from the market today !

Had to buy some chicken breasts for my brother so i dropped by the chicken stall, to my surprise ! I saw this HUGE chicken thigh and i asked the uncle, " Uncle, what is this ? Is it chicken thigh ? "
Uncle : " Yah it is from Australia/America ( cannot remember haa ) 1kg is $5 "
Me : " Oh..Okay Uncle, please give me one "

He weighed the chicken, close to 600g ! wah !

Uncle : " okay, ah boy, its $2.80 "
Me : " okay uncle, can. "
Uncle : " You want me to remove the bone for you ? those people selling western food remove the bone to grill it, its very nice. "
Me : " oh uncle, no need lah, i will see what i can do to it first, thanks ! "

Haa I already had something in my mind, i'm gonna dump it into my roast chicken marinade and roast it with the bones !

Wooo HUGE chicken thigh, in you go into my marinade later !
It is really very big ! I even put my hand beside it to show you how big it is, for your information, my hand is considered quite big, so...you can imagine HAA !

Cant wait to serve this ^^,



UNCLE JAMES !


Uncle James ! This is for you ! HAA !
Sorry i couldnt find jackfruit near my place, so i thought of making you this, bailey's dark chocolate mint ? or no mint ? cheesecake with a walnut digestive biscuit base.
On Sunday, i told my friend, Sihan about this cake i'd be making. And, she told me that the mint in this liquor isnt strong enough, and yes i agree with her, its like you cant really taste or smell the mint. Wanted to give this cake a slight mint flavour, unfortunately, i didnt have fresh mints in hand at that time..Boo hoo...Will give this mint add-on a try the next time, gotta get fresh mints first =)
Uncle James, Aunty Doris, Timothy, Tabigail, Terena and Rachel..i hope you guys would enjoy this cake ! Not knowing if the children can take liquor or not haa !

Thank you MINGO !

Dear Mingo ordered a D24 cheesecake from me !

Wanted to give it to him for free, but he wouldnt take it so i charged him cheaper.

Kept asking me to charge him the full price, no lah...

I told him that he'd definitely like the cake, after delivering it to him, i told him to try ti as soon as possible and let me know how he thinks of it.

After less than 10 mins, he messaged me saying everyone likes my cake, very nice, his mum said, unfortunately i dont have a daughter if not i will introduce her to you !
HAA very funny lah never mind, i told him i'll go find another mother's daughter ! HAAA !""!

Stupid jokes...

I am very happy to know that they like the cake =)

yupee !



Friday, November 21, 2008

Obolo !

Went to Obolo with a new group of friends and had a desert feast.

This was one of the plates they served, there were 2 more deserts i didnt take pictures.

They were macarons and the other one, couldnt remember the name, it was made from mascapone cheese, strawberry gelee and berries, yes i liked that, tasted like yoghurt haa

As for this plate of cheesecakes and tarts, i couldnt finish them, after tasting a few of them, i was too full to even continue on the rest..

Haaa a few of us brought the left over home, better than wasting them lah, i'm sure the baker wouldntbe happy if you throw away his pastries =)

Had my fun and made many new friends !

Ho ho looking forward to the other gathering !

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Just cant get enough

Combination of Gula Melaka with coconut milk is just too good, so i decided to make my own chendol without the green colour tiny strings ? HAA

I added only grass jelly and red beans into the mixture of coconut milk and gula melaka.

Oh no, i regret making this, i cant seem to stop opening my fridge's door to scoop a few tablespoons out to eat...

Yes just can get enough of this dessert, such simple and common ingredients, yet so delicious...

Pasta salad

Mum got me a packet of yellow zuchinni, so i better make good use of them before they start to rot away..

Sliced them up, pan grilled them on the griddle pan Aunty Doris bought for me ( she is always getting alot of stuffs for me HAA lucky to have such an Aunt, you heard me ah, ah yi haa ! ) with some chopped garlic..

Boiled the pasta in salted water, rinsed in cold water, drained well, tossed them with chopped olives ( woo one of my favourite healthy food ), zuchinni, garlic, my baked chicken slices, some spring onions, olive oil, black pepper, and salt !

Very nice n healthy meal, i like it =)


The food europeans eat are much healthier than our local fare, dont you agree ? HAA !
Local fare ? I love !








Passion in fashion


Didnt have the chance to catch the real fruit until a few months ago when they were out in season.
I noticed these weird looking fruits at the corner of the supermarket and asked mum what were these ? She told me, " Oh passion fruit lah "
Oh so, this is how they look like..so i bought some home to try..and got hooked to them ever since i cracked open one !
Haa lovely fruits, they smell so good and taste alittle sour, not overwhelming, sweet and the seeds add crunch to it.
So, you guys should really try them since they're in season right now, you wont regret trying them unless you really hate sour fruits =)
Must be packed with anti oxidants haa !