Keeping track!

Daisypath Anniversary tickers

Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas Eve Dinner!

This post may come a little late..but the dinner was really good!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

DSC00756

Fish helped cook the dinner as well and so you see 7 sets of everything. I was really quite proud of my soup. Pumpkin Soup! I used a mix of 2 recipes.

We also made pumpkin balls and had sashimi - salmon, swordfish and kingfish. Fish also cooked a dish of rice with eggplant and bacon.

We went to NTUC to buy ingredients and boy is it a disappointment. I couldn't find anything that was necessary for the rice dish that Fish cooked. Originally, it was made using salami and good sausages. However, all we could find at NTUC was bacon and disappointing sausages so the dish didn't turn out as good as expected. It's ok! We will attempt to make this again with better quality ingredients!

I had the pumpkin recipe in my old blog which i have pasted below.

Ingredients
1. 600g Pumpkin or 900g Potato
2. 200g Chicken meat – add pepper, 1/2tbsp salt, 1/2tbsp mirin and sake
3. 1 onion or more if you like
4. 2 eggs
5. Plain flour
6. Rising Flour
6. Bread Crumbs

Seasoning
1. 2tsp salt
2. 3tbsp Potato Starch/Cornflour
3. Pepper

Directions
1. Cut the pumpkin into pieces, steam for 10 mins till soft, smash into paste while adding 3tbsp of potato flour.

DSC00738

2. Slice marinated chicken meat and onion into cubes.

DSC00734

3. Heat wok with some oil, fragrant the onion, add in chicken meat, and stir fry until cooked.

DSC00737

4. Mix pumpkin paste, onion, cooked chicken meat and seasoning in a bowl evenly.

DSC00739

5. Roll into balls. Coat with a layer of plain flour+rising flour (in equal quantities), beat egg solution and a layer of breadcrumbs.

DSC00753 

6. Deep fry till golden brown then drain well and serve with some tonkatsu sauce. - or, with Fish, its wholegrain mustard(tangy) and Japanese Mayonnaise.

pumpkin balls

The recipe for pumpkin soup may be a little vague cause i didn't really measure everything properly. =)

Ingredients
1. Around 600gm Pumpkin
2. 1.5 litres of water - i used veg stock but i think water will suffice
3. 200gm streaky bacon
4. 1 onion
5. 150ml whipping cream - any cream
6. Herbs, salt and pepper

Directions
1. Get rid of the skin of the pumpkin and slice into cubes - or whatever shapes you like.

2. Bake in the oven at 190 degrees for as long as necessary till the pumpkin is soft. I added extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

DSC00747

3. While baking, fry the bacon and onions together. (Smells really good!)

4. In a pot, add water, the fried bacon and onions, herbs, salt and pepper and the roasted pumpkin together. Place the extra oil from the roasting pan, that really helps to give the colour of the soup as well.

5. Cook till it boils and then simmer it for around 30 minutes.



6. After 30 mins or so, the pumpkin should all be mushed up and breaking up. The soup would look really really pretty and golden colour.

7. Using a blender, blend the soup into a nice creamy soup.

DSC00755

8. Looks really good eh? Taste really good too!

N.B I used veg stock but i realised that the soup is made quite flavourful with the bacon and onions so it is quite possible that water on its own is quite enough.

9. After blending, although cream was not really necessary because the soup is quite creamy already, the cream adds a milky flavour to the soup which i really like and it lightens the colour. Fish added loads of herbs too. Italian seasoning goes very well with pumpkin soup.

Hope some of you try out these recipes! Guaranteed to satisfy!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Bedok Fengshan and the Revolving Restaurant

Today was a tiring day for all of us including Fish. We were all at the warehouse packing and cleaning and attempting to tear up 7 years of documents. It was way too frustrating.

After that, we came home and some of us had a bath and then since we had to fetch Fish home, we decided to go to Fengshan 85 as Fish calls it. It's a hawker centre at Bedok North. We ordered 'orh jian' oyster omelette, hokkien mee, satay, porridge and tang yuan because today is some special occasion that i can't seem to remember. It was a relatively good eat and that clumsy Fish dropped his wallet twice and twice a good person would let him know that he dropped his wallet.

Haven been blogging much because nothing much has been happening.

Yesterday i went to dinner with Fish and his family. We went to the Revolving Restaurant to celebrate Fish's brother's birthday in advance. I didn't wanted to go empty handed and since Fish already bought his bro a Bose headphones, i decided to do what i am currently good at - baking brownies.

I tried to do something a little different. I bought those expensive chocolates from Lumont and added those in the centre of the brownies. However, it wasn't very well-received, everyone still preferred the original ones. The ones this time had a very nice crust which was crunchy yet chewy - don't ask me how i got that effect - i always seem to have a little surprise everytime i bake brownies - there's always a little difference. I gave Fish's brother 3 and so that Fish won't get jealous, i gave him 4. I hope he likes it - at least the original one.

We at the Peking duck at the Revolving Restaurant and it was really quite nice. The view was nothing much - it's only now that it is Christmas that you can see a lighted up Mount Faber and a huge Christmas tree at Vivo City. Fish's family really liked their Gou Pu Li Pao - a handmade pao with pork filling. There was a minimum order of 10 which we finished and they ordered another 10 for me to bring home. We had to wait 40 mins for that because it was freshly made only when we ordered - from the skin to the filling.

Fish's father then brought us to an ice cream shop in Clementi called 'The Daily Scoop', it was nearly 10 but there were still a lot of people eating ice cream in there. We loved their coconut flavour the most and we both got 2 tubs to bring home. The coconut ice cream is adorned with many bits of real coconut - which are fresh and really tastes like those of a fresh young coconut.

That's about it. What are my plans for tml? Studying Latin!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Borders and Enrolment

My dad brought us out to Borders to get some books and i bought 2. One is "Latin made Simple" and the other is "Practical Guide to Phonetics and Phonology".

Today is the start of enrolment and i chose 4 courses which i am interested in.

1. Phonology
2. Chinese Cinema
3. Social Contexts - Linguistics
4. Shakespeare; Stage and Text

BUT.. there is a clash between 1 and 4 and i can't decide which one to give up. So for now i can only cross my fingers and hope that they add more tutorial classes so that there might be no clashes.

>.<

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Brownies! Again!

I made brownies again the day before i left for Singapore. It was to eat on the plane but there were extras so i brought them back to Singapore. Turns out that they were a hit and everyone loved them! YAY!

This time i made a smaller batch and used better chocolates and made them into mini cupcakes for better presentation and transportation.

DSC00712

Do they look much much better? They taste really good too! Not for the faint-hearted though - they are definitely a treat.

Just in case you guys want the recipe again and this is truly a simple simple recipe from Nigella Lawson! Also, since this is my second time making this, i eyeballed alot of the ingredients which really makes no big difference. There are also some small changes that can be made - like the amount of butter.

Ingredients

300gm Unsalted Butter
300gm Dark Chocolate - either the small drops or big chunks
6 eggs
1 1/2 cup caster sugar - i reduced this a little as a few commented that it was a wee sweet
1 tablespoon of vanilla essence
1 - 1 1/2 cups of plain flour - depending on how cakey you like
1 teaspoon Salt - i actually forgot about this - so i guess it really isn't important?
Any amount of milk chocolate and/or white chocolate drops

Directions

1. Melt the butter and dark chocolate together in a big pot.
2. While melting slowly over low heat, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence.
3. When the chocolate mixture has completely melted and relatively cooled, add in the egg mixture and mix together. (Make sure the chocolate is not too hot or else you will end up with chocolate scrambled eggs!)
4. Fold in the flour into the mixture carefully a little at a time.
5. Place into baking dish or muffin trays as you wish and bake.
6. For the small ones like mine, bake at 180 degree Celsius for 15 minutes - bake longer or shorter if you like it drier or gooey respectively. You can also insert a fork or toothpick to see if it comes out clean.

Comments

1. I use caster sugar which is finer and does not seem as sweet as white sugar.
2. The original recipe called for 1/2 a cup of white and 1/2 cup of milk chocolate drops - but you can add as little or as much as you like. I have not tried, but i'm sure you could add walnuts or any nuts for that matter as well.
3. I reduced the amount of butter but it still is quite an amount - haven't tried reducing it even more as i needed to clear the butter - if you tried it with a lower amount of butter - let me know how it turns out.  
4. Try to use good quality dark chocolate for the are the foundation of this brownie.

I hope you guys will try and enjoy this recipe because i know everyone has and i hope you will too!

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Back in Singapore!

Hello!

I am finally back.

It is SO hot!

I couldn't sleep with the air con and had to endure the heat. It is so hot here....ahhh....

Today we're having a family BBQ. Hopefully we will have a great time.

Can't wait to play the wii we have at home. I played it once and i'm kinda inclined to get one back to play in Sydney. =)

I'm having a great time now with my little nephews.

I woke up at 0730 this morning and went out to have breakfast with my parents. Then we went to fetch my aunt and nephews and went to a market to get the ingredients for the BBQ. We also bought mangosteens! I love them! Very Very Nice!

Can't wait to settle in and start going out and having fun!

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Converted Earrings!

I finally converted a earring.

I bought this earring at a shop for $3 and went about to convert it. It took cutting my nails, tweezers and a stapler to complete this mission.

The most complains heard about clip-ons are that they are uncomfortable and painful. That is not totally true. The converters i bought are amazingly comfortable. It all depends on quality. I bought a batch of clip-ons from a girl in UK and they were not of good quality which meant that they are not that comfortable. People also don't realise that you can manually widen the curvature of the clip so as to increase or release the tension.

DSC00690  DSC00679

This was a fish hook earring - so i went about to dismantle the fish hooks and the ring that you see on the earring is original. All that i did was to remove the fish hooks and put in place the converters. Takes a little thinking to find weird tools to do the job but it finally happened. I am so happy! Yay!

The converters are really good and i was thinking of maybe selling them or something. Anyways, if you guys have any friends who are interested in clip-ons and converters, LET ME KNOW!

One more thing, i have decided not to perm my hair but to go through the ritual of straightening then curling my hair whenever necessary. I don't do it as well as the hairdresser - but it will do - much better than if i were to leave it alone. =)

Monday, December 01, 2008

Haircut!

I just had a hair cut from the salon downstairs. It's called "Twelve Fingers" and its run by Koreans.

DSC00643

The hairdresser i got was really nice and friendly. This is the best place i ever went to get my hair cut. There were communication problems being that her english isn't too fluent, but it went well and i'm really quite happy with the results - so is fish. I have curls in the picture but that's temporary, it will be straight after i wash my hair.

It cost me $45 to cut - expensive by Singapore's standard, but i think its relatively worth it - they are very meticulous in their cutting - i was there for nearly 2 hours. I did a treatment which costs $50 - it's a very quick and simple one - they have an intensive one for $99 - but i decided on the normal one first since it was my first time there. Whether or not it is worth the money would be decided after i have washed my hair and see how it feels. Also i hope that my hair looks ok even after i have washed it.

Fish also shaved his hair which cost $18 - more expensive than Singapore's $8 but he said that his hairdresser was also meticulous and showed care towards how the hair looked rather than just shaving it down recklessly.

She also also gave me the complimentary curls and a small bottle "smoothing fluid". The products there are quite cool. This is it's description:

this bottle contains:
a whole bunch of waaaaaahhhhhhh, 36 long and misty glances from across the room, 28 neck cracking head turns, 2 solid job offers, 8 fancy a f@#k type suggestions.

It's called 'easy tiger'. As the tube says, it is a gift to those who want to stop blaming their genes for the erroneous ways of their hair. The brand is evo and their motto is 'saving ordinary humans from themselves'.

HaHa..very funky.

I will be cutting my hair from here from now on until the inevitable day i return to Singapore and never return.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

I'll Stand By You

This is a lovely song. Originally sung by The Pretenders, then Girls Aloud and Carrie Underwood.

Enjoy this beautiful beautiful song. It was used by both the Girls Aloud and Carrie Underwood as a charity single.

The one playing now is by The Pretenders.

Oh, why you look so sad?
Tears are in your eyes
Come on and come to me now
Don't be ashamed to cry
Let me see you through
'cause I've seen the dark side too
When the night falls on you
You don't know what to do
Nothing you confess
Could make me love you less


I'll stand by you
I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you
I'll stand by you


So if you're mad, get mad
Don't hold it all inside
Come on and talk to me now
Hey, what you got to hide?
I get angry too
Well I'm a lot like you
When you're standing at the crossroads
And don't know which path to choose
Let me come along
'cause even if you're wrong


I'll stand by you
I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you
I'll stand by you
Take me in, into your darkest hour
And I'll never desert you
I'll stand by you

And when...
When the night falls on you, baby
You're feeling all alone
You won't be on your own

I'll stand by you
I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you
I'll stand by you
Take me in, into your darkest hour
And I'll never desert you

I'll stand by you
I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you
I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you
I'll stand by you

Enjoy!

Give and You Shall Receive.

I'm on a writing spree here. HaHa..

I believe in "Give and You Shall Receive". But sometimes, it's really difficult. Life makes one cynical. There are beggers on the street and calls for donations everywhere. Do you give to every single one? Of course one can give by volunteering etc as well...

I don't know. Sometimes i'm conflicted.

I was reading an article from Buddhadharma.

From “Give and You Shall Receive” by Reginald A. Ray. Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly, Spring 2005.

"The practice of giving, then, is a deeply reciprocal practice with lay devotee and renunciant each giving what is within their means to give. Each offers not only what one has but, in the Asian understanding, as scholars such as Paul Mus and Louis Dumont have shown, what one is. The potential intimacy of this kind of reciprocity need not be doubted."

This following paragraph is so so true.

"The human ego is largely defined and maintained by our personal possessions, that which we consider “ours.” These are not only material possessions but also our abilities and even what we think. In the practice of giving, we offer up our wealth in the form of food, money or other material items, or non-material items such as expressions of devotion, praise or spiritual aspirations. When we do so, we are giving away parts of ourselves. In fact, in the moment of giving it may feel as if we are offering up our very “self.” This is why we resist giving to others, why the act of giving itself can be so painful, and also why it can be so liberating."

I cancelled out this part because the top paragraph can refer to anybody but i think the next one is more religion based - so if you wanna read, it's there, but if not - ignore it.

"This giving away of “self” is precisely how we establish an authentic connection with the object of our devotion. Once we have offered up ourselves and our very being, we are temporarily in a state of openness, free from grasping and fixation. Then we can truly hear and incorporate the message of selflessness and liberation." 

Some quotes to leave you with:

Wayne Dyer: "It's a universal law- we have to give before we get. We must plant the seeds before we reap the harvest. The more we sow, the more we reap. And in giving to others, we find ourselves blessed."

Ralph Waldo Emerson: "It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."

Lao Tsu: "He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much."

Buddha: "Giving brings happiness at every stage of its expression. We experience joy in forming the intention to be generous. We experience joy in the actual act of giving something, experience joy in remembering the fact that we have given."  - Very Very True

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."

Some of these issues i hold dear to my heart and believe in them much. We may not be perfect - but we try - because these are what i form my personal principles upon.

I think next i'll tell you guys a little about the law of attraction. Which Eddie Neo so totally did not understand.

All these issues are fun and interested and enlightening. Of course there are official websites etc that you can read it on, but i thought - this is just my way of passing it on to people who might not have known about them. =)

Live and Let Live.

Tony Robbins

OMG. I was just typing the previous post and was listening to a recording by Tony Robbins. This was what he was saying at the point in time - roughly.

"Our life is not controlled by the external environment, it certainly can affect us.... 3 decisions:

1. What are you going to focus on? Are you going to focus on what you can't control or what you can control?  If you keep focusing on what you can't control, i know you're going to be scared, angry or depressed...Instead, focus on what you can control - focus on the past of what you've lost, or the present that you need to take advantage of or the future that you can create. Focus is power! Whatever you focus on you are going to feel. Focus on what you want.

2. What does this mean? The end or beginning? Punishment or Reward? You decide. Meaning produces emotion. Crisis is a crisis of emotion. Art of fulfillment. What we do is shaped by what we feel and what we feel comes from the meaning we make up.

3. What are you going to do?"

He talked for a long time - but this part attracted me to listen closer. Have a read and see if this passage helped you to learn anything or helped you in any way. =)

Give and you shall receive.

University

I woke up this morning at 0630. Didn't know what to do. So i used my laptop and decided to check on Eleen's blog. She wrote a short post on how she felt about not being at NUS. That made me think and realised that i was feeling the same way too.

No one should ask me whether the overseas experience is worth it or not. Because I Don't Know.

I have had great friends over the years but we never seem to stay together and i guess sometimes my boyfriend took precedence.

Sometimes i look through my friends' friendster and facebook accounts and i feel a little sad after that. Left-out and even lonely.

If it was just for friend's company - i regret not going to a local uni. I regret being away from my friends and sometimes i'm afraid that when i return, i might not have any friends left. I don't have a best friend, i don't have a friend that i call whenever i need help. All i have is Fish now, he is my best friend, my lover and my baby. He knows everything there is to know about me and i go to him whenever i need someone. As Eleen says, the dorm life with friends and the experiences we thought we would have when we're in uni.

But sometimes, it's not enough.

I love the overseas experience, it has taught me a lot about life and living without parents (other than the financial part). But sometimes i regret not staying at a local uni whether NUS or SIM. I see everyone being in company of friends and the happy faces. Then i see myself - I don't have that. Sometimes i get sad, sometimes i don't care, sometimes i don't know what to think.

In this year, maybe the time i left most left out was on the my birthday. All my peers have birthday parties for their 21st birthday, they go out with friends and family and have fun. My birthday celebration was kinda sad. Fish gave me a great present though, we had dinner. The day before my birthday, Fish was in Singapore for his grandma's funeral and he arrived on my birthday morning. Yu Ting, Shan Shan, Shi Wei and Hui Fen sent me a present - i was happy.

So i've decided to put in a little more effort - hopefully my schedule when i return allows. I want to meet up with more friends - friends that i haven seen in a while and didn't contact much - like eddie neo etc.. definitely eleen..haha

So Eleen, maybe it's time for us to really put it behind us and accept that this is never going to change - it will always be a part of our life that we missed out on and something that when pops up in conversations, we would be unable to partake and share in. Still, you would have great times and experiences and friends from SIM and i would have experienced what i have always wanted since young and what this country and its people have taught me.

Let's SMILE!

"You're never fully dressed without a SMILE!" - Annie

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Shoe Alert!

Dream Shoes

This is the pair of shoe i am so dying to get. BUT! It is so expensive! It's Marc by Marc Jacobs. I saw one that was metallic yellow at David Jones but of course i didn't buy. I first ever saw his shoes also at David Jones though it wasn't this pair. It was these 2 pairs:

Pink flats Marc Jacobs

They felt nice and soft and i know it must be delightful to wear! I like both the flats and the heels. Something just attracts me to them. =)

They are simple yet elegant and beautiful!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Earring Converters & Table Finds!

I have been wanting to order these earring converters for the longest time ever and finally, i ordered them and they arrived this morning.

There are 2 types. First type is a converter to convert pierced dangle earrings to clip-ons.

DSC00403 - Copy

What you have to do is take a pierced earring and unhook the ring and re-attach it to the ring shown in the picture. This requires a little work but to me it's going to be worth the effort! I bought 2 colours, sterling silver and black nickel.

Ok. The second one is simpler.

DSC00406 - Copy DSC00412

This one is a converter that contains a cylindrical thing. However, this is only to be used for post earrings - studs. This is difficult to explain, so the picture next to it is the instructions. I bought 2 colours for this as seen is sterling silver and rose gold.

DSC00410

This one basically works the same as the barrel ones above. However, instead of a clip, this works using a screw instead.

So, i really can't wait to try all these out sooner or later. Also, i ordered a batch of 20 clip-ons from an ebayer from UK who makes them herself.

We went to Eastgardens today. Bought a huge cake! A cookies and cream cake from Wendy's which i really like. Because it's a cake, i decided that we should all make a wish. After the wishes were made, we tucked in. Yummm..

DSC00433

I also found new tablemats and table cloth. I found the cute tablemats for $1.50 each at a new shop called 'hot dollar', there were 3 different patterns, so i bought 3. I also found a PVC table cloth at Target, because it's the Christmas season, there are so many christmassy things. This tablecloth was one of them. It wasn't too expensive - originally priced at $8.99 there was a 20% discount. It wasn't too obviously Christmas looking and it looked sweet, plain and fits perfectly.

DSC00425

Aren't they cute and look so well together? HaHa..rather than the tacky old tablemats we used to use. We still use them - whenever necessary.

Then we went to K-Mart and bought me a chair cushion, shampoo and conditioner to bring home and Fish got himself a toy.

DSC00441

Then, Fish was the chef of the day and cooked dinner! He used left-over french fries and wedges and cooked a mushroom cream concoction which he then baked in the oven with mozzarella and ham steaks. He made the mushroom sauce a wee too salty though. We had pumpkin soup to go with dinner.

DSC00429 

Had a great day today. Wore a very green outfit today. A green polo shirt with a white skirt with my new green shoes and my so boring green bag. HaHa! Going to sleep early and go Bondi tomorrow!

OH! Another thing! The shoe bit me! But Fish bought me these plasters which were really good. The surrounding plasters are transparent and feel like second skin. They don't peel off easily when the shoe rubs against it like the normal kind. So these come highly recommended for blisters and blister prevention.

DSC00442

Ciao! Keep Smiling! =)

Monday, November 17, 2008

Unbelievably Forgetful ME!

This entry is just to consolidate all the pictures i have taken in the past weeks but did not blog about. Here goes:

We always eat here: Pempek (If that is how it spelled) It's along Anzac Parade, very near our place. They have kinda weird opening days and hours, they open till 8pm and are closed every Mon and Thurs. But i love their fish cake skin and Nasi Rendang!

10-11-2008

I attempted Chocolate Mousse one day. It wasn't too much of a failure but the consistency was a little wrong though it tasted really good. I used Gordon Ramsay's recipe but a mousse requires a lot of whipping which works very much better and easier if you have a electrical beater - which i don't - maybe that's why i couldn't get the consistency. The soft meringue looks so pretty! Like melted marshmallows!

10-11-20081

What else? We (edit: not We, just Fish, he was very very dilligent and made the whole thing other than the guacamole from scratch! What a darling!) made burgers the other day. Relatively successful. BUT! No one could finish their burgers except Fish i think. We had three patties each. With a slice of bacon. And guacamole and sour cream. And caramelised onions! Very Very Filling!

DSC00361

Ooo... We ordered Peruvian Food around 3 times and the most recent was the best. I ordered a fish dish and it was very very very delicious. Even their steamed rice is really really nice. The price is higher than average but so is their food. I named all the foods in the picture below. Their pickled onions are really refreshing. Papa Rellena is an entree which is basically mashed potato encasing a minced beef filling. Tacu Tacu is just grilled steak with a fried egg.

The egg that you see at the bottom right is the egg yolk from the chocolate mousse - fish poured hot water into the shell and burned himself while doing it. Then he added soya sauce and pepper. Let it sit for a while and drink up. He says its delicious!

DSC00348

This is the fish that was oh so delicious! This is its description: Peruvian style grilled fillet of fish, topped with sauteed onions, tomatoes, capsicum, served with rice or beans. The fish is so delicate and flaky and the sauce is wonderful. Although it is a little on the salty side. It's taste is incredible. The portion is not small too - i couldn't finish the whole thing - had 2 fillets - i had to call hui to finish the rest for me.

DSC00349

This is a simple dinner which Fish prepared while i was sleeping in. What's in it? Hmm... There is corn chips, mozzarella cheese, oven baked chicken cut into strips, left-over guacamole, taco sauce (the green cap bottle), a can of chili con carne heated up in the pot and Greek yiros wraps (i don't know what they really really are, but they worked, we used them like soft tacos).

DSC00375

Last but not least is a small little bowl of congee i prepared when Fish wasn't feeling well. This is the Cantonese kind - thick. You basically need a big big pot and loads of water. 1 cup of rice is usually more than enough for 2. 1 cup of rice with 10 cups of water. My pot isn't big enough for 10 cups of water at one go, so i just add like 8 first and then slowly add the rest in, sometimes i don't even use all 10 cups. By the way, my cup is the same cup in which i used to measure the rice - so it isn't the conventional 250ml, its only around 175ml? But it doesn't matter.

What's important is that you keep stirring. This is so that the rice breaks down. Oh! I almost forgot, to help in this process, after i wash the rice, i take like a tablespoon of oil (sesame or veg or olive) and mix in with the washed rice and i leave it to 'soak' for like 10-20 mins. You can see the rice chance from a translucent to white color. Then cook with as much water as possible - salt the water if you wish. Remember to stir while you cook and if possible use a deep pot because when the porridge becomes thick, it needs to bubble, but it can't because there is no water so blots of porridge come flying out. So be careful, it hurts when it hits your hand.

I like to add home cooked fried shallots, but Fish refused to let me fry so he ate the pre-bought one and i just had it with sesame oil and an egg mixed into the hot porridge.

DSC00296This is Fish's porridge!

I know i'm being really long-winded here. But just a side note, if you wanna make Teochew style porridge - the watery kind with the shape of the rice still intact, use little rice and loads of water. For 1 person, 1/4 cup of rice is just enough. I usually just add like loads of water to that - just don't add too much, you can always add more but taking away seems too much trouble. =)

Anyhoo...this is an awfully long post..so to update everything at once. HaHa. Sorry if it took forever to load and read. I hope you had fun reading about all the foods because i had fun writing about all the foods we ate. =)

BY THE WAY! I will be going to Singapore on the 5th Dec. Guess what?! I can't wait to EAT all the local delights!

Chickpeas & Keds

Here is the picture of the cute pair of baby socks that we found and named 'Chickpeas'. Guaranteed to make Eleen jealous! HaHa..!

DSC00396

Cutest Ever eh?!

I lament the lack of shoes everyday i am here. I have been scouring ebay constantly to look for shoes that are at a bargain and pretty. My diligence paid off. I bought a pair of Keds flats for AUD$13 plus a shipping fee of AUD$6. The bid started at 99 cents but i finally managed to win! At first i was afraid it might be a little big, its a US Size 9 Eur 40. However, when i tried it, it was just nice - perfect fit. Since i am currently into Green, this shoe has its green elements as well! It was delivered this morning in a parcel at 0730.

DSC00392 

Cute?! I am so happy with my purchase. It is not new though, the auction states that it has been worn once - which i didn't really mind cause the picture provided looks ok. The sole is a little dirty which is normal but the rest of the shoe is clean and very new-like, and for the price, it is fine with me!

Oh! I made butter and bread pudding again for Fish. I used 9 eggs, should have used 10, cause it's not firm enough.

DSC00388

Looks ok. I have not actually tried it yet, Fish ate 1/2 already. HaHa..

By the way, i am so going to Eastgardens tomorrow to get my favourite cookies and cream ice cream CAKE. A justification: To celebrate all our birthdays again and the end of this semester! Hopefully they have it if i not i might have to order and go back to collect it another day.

From a funny commercial: "You bear or chicken?!"

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Poo..

Have not been blogging for a while. Official holidays for me have started but i haven really done much. Not feeling too good these days because of my period. Anyway, was watching tv just now and tonight was "Criminal Intent" and "SVU". Both very intriguing and both presented 2 different viewpoints although they were of different crimes etc..

Would you trust a sex offender who has been to jail and is now living in your neighbourhood? Would you want for him to get out of your neighbourhood and be cruel and not nice to him? In the show, people hated him and eventually he got murdered. I don't know. I think it very much depends on your first gut feeling and impression when you see one like him. Although appearances can be deceiving, maybe i would give that person a chance - a chance that he might really have repented and is trying to leave his past behind. But i understand that its difficult for many people to do so. It's a risk to give him another chance but maybe that's what we need in the world now. So many things are happening, so many crimes committed, so many evils. Maybe it's time we gave trust a chance. Maybe that's what some people need.

Just like if you made a mistake in your life and from then on, people brand you a liar or sth, how difficult would that be for you to shake it off no matter how hard you try? The trust might not work out - it might turn on you - you might regret giving trust a chance, but deep deep down, that is how we would like to be treated - that is how we might want to be treated when faced in a similar situation.

In every case, there needs to be communication, honesty and trust. Even between strangers (unless otherwise). It's so easy to see the negatives, but so important to see the positives - because we are all essentially humans and if we are unable to give our own species a chance, wouldn't that lead to the degradation of what being human and humanity is?

Ok. Enough of that. I have so many places i want to go!

1. Ikea
2. DFO
3. The Rocks Market
4. Eastgardens - to buy ice cream!

I bought something that i hope will make Eleen jealous. HaHa.. it's the cutest pair of socks ever. We name them "chickpeas". HaHa..they are of course..yellow. HaHa.. will post a picture of them the next time.

Till then...!

Friday, October 31, 2008

Heard the song?

The song is sung by a group called Rockapella. When i was young, i used to love playing 'Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?' It was loads of fun!

So, when i came across this song and the way that they sang this song was wonderful - very very good. I enjoyed this song a lot and here's hoping that you guys would too!

I found a video of the song on youtube - it is the exact same song as the one i am playing on my blog but you can see little snippets of the game and the criminals. Old school but really nostalgic...Enjoy!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Chorizo with Tomato and Cream Pasta

Spanish Chorizo is a pork sausage that has a distinctive smokiness a a deep red colour from its spices such as paprika. There are many different variations of chorizo but they are all surely very tasty.

Tonight's recipe is taken from uktvfood.co.uk and is presented by Rachel Allen. I have of course done some changes to the recipe the way Fish and me likes.

I really really like sauces that uses both tomato and cream because i love cream sauces but they can get a little cloying and fattening. I like tomato sauces but not absolutely - so when you put the both together, you get a nice creamy sauce with a tang of sourness from the tomatoes.

Ingredients

Butter/Olive Oil
2 cans of chopped tomatoes - mine has basil and garlic
4 cloves of garlic - or more if you wish - chopped
2 chorizos - around 225g - chopped in anyway you like
175ml Cream
200g fresh mushroom - Not in the original recipe but we love our mushrooms!
500g Bowtie Pasta - or any pasta you prefer
Dried Chilli Flakes - as hot as you like - but its better to start low
Dried Herbs - Optional
Pepper

Directions

Cook the pasta in hot boiling water with a huge amount of salt added - this is essential so that the pasta is nicely seasoned. No worries - the dish does not require anymore salt.

Melt the butter or heat up the olive oil.

Add the tomatoes, garlic, herbs and mushrooms. Cook till the mushrooms are soften and relatively cooked.
DSC00269

Add the chopped sausages, dried chilli flakes and cream. Cook till the mixture reduces and thickens for around 10-20 mins. Keep stirring. You could check the seasoning now - but if you used the same ingredients etc like mine, i didn't need to add any additional salt at all.

Add the pasta to the sauce, mix well and serve nice and hot!

Enjoy! This recipe serves 6 so what we did was to place the rest in the fridge and it can be heated up to eat anytime!

P.S. We had the pasta with Campbell's Cream of Pumpkin soup. It tastes really good - but Fish added extra water, cream, herbs and black pepper.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Fried Chicken Strips

We decided to try our luck and deep-fry chicken strips.

Some definite items that are needed:

Free Range Chicken Breast - Cut into strips
Plain Flour - with Dried Herbs, BBQ seasoning, salt and pepper
Japanese Panko Breadcrumbs
Free Range Eggs
Mustard - Ours is American Mustard - but any type would be ok.

Steps:

1. Place the chicken strips in plastic bags and pound if you like. Then add the mustard into the bag and mix all around so that the strips are all coated with mustard. - This is Fish's idea! A great idea! Very tasty!

2. Prepare 3 plates. First for the flour, then the eggs then the breadcrumbs. I added herbs and seasoning etc into all 3. So its dip into the flour to get coated, then to the eggs and lastly to the breadcrumbs.

3. Deep fry or pan fry till golden brown.

4. Enjoy!

It's a little messy - but it tastes so very good! Especially with the mustard! We fried all the chicken, ate some and placed the rest in the fridge to keep for any day we want - just heat it up in the oven!

It's really really good!

Grilled Salmon Sushi

I found a sushi that tastes VERY WONDERFUL!

Doesn't it look absolutely delicious? It is grilled using a blowtorch when you order and it tastes absolutely sublime. The top is grilled but the bottom part is still raw and then they have this sauce which they put over and the other best part is the pickled onion they put over (the pink/purple thing on top) - its very nice and it goes very well. We found this at Sushi Roll at ~$3.40 a plate. My favourite sushi now!

Eat Out Day!

We met up with Hui and her 2 friends to have lunch at Marigold Chinese Restaurant for Dim Sum. It is not bad! Actually it is even better than East Ocean. The place is much bigger which means that the queue is shorter. At East Ocean, the queue is so long and it can take forever to get a table. =)

We had a great lunch and then we walked around and then later later we decided that i need dinner! So we walked and i decided on Thai Express. The same one as the one in Singapore - orange and all. So we went in and ate a lot.

DSC00245   DSC00249 

DSC00243            DSC00246

 DSC00252 DSC00253

We ate more than what i've shown in the pictures. HaHa..This is the Thai food that i am used to. Especially the red ruby and the tapioca..Oh..They brought back so many memories..They had orange zest on the tapioca, not that its not nice though, its just weird and i don't really like orange orange - so i took the orange zest aside.

I got the Orange card as well - 10% discount - i wouldn't have got it if i did not read it and found out that the card is usable in both Australia and Singapore.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Last Day of School

Yay! Today is fish and mine last day of school offically. FINALLY! I have so been looking forward to this day. Some courses have gone relatively well this sem and some are really quite lousy.

Officially, the sem is over, however, i still have 2 major essays due in a few more weeks. After that.. everything will finally be over. I am so so so happy. I really need to just stop and take a break from the fact that i can't do anything without feeling guilty cause i'm not studying! I need a break from it and then pray for a better sem next year - hopefully more focused and more fruitful.

I also can't wait to return to Singapore to eat eat and eat. and meet all my friends and HAVE A PARTY!

I so totally feel like having a party. However, i am inclined to a Indian Vegetarian Caterer. I have grown to love indian food since i'm here - the food here is mainly from a different part of India - so we don't get roti prata here, we get butter chicken and all the wonderful curries which can be found in Singapore only in restaurants. I might change my mind about it being totally vegetarian - just because i really want you guys to try butter chicken - i don't eat the chicken, just the sauce which is wonderful - although i might be able to work out a vegetarian option with that.

I don't believe in a party needing to eat meat. Of course it tastes great but since i am organizing the party, i think it is all about having a great time with people that matter - whether meat is involved or not is totally not in the picture. Vegetarian food is not as dull as what a lot of people think - you will be surprised and how great you feel att he end of each day knowing that you did not eat meat.

Seriously.

P.S. I am quite pissed at 2 advertisments here. First, is the one that says "We were born to eat red meat." Red meat tastes good and is healthy for us - but i don't believe we were meant to eat it. The other one is that "People who don't eat chicken have something wrong with them." - WHAT?! What the hell are people thinking about nowadays?!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Breakfast with Fish!

I woke up early this morning at 9am and decided that i am going to cook breakfast! - At the end though - it became brunch! =)

Voila! After an hour in the kitchen, i made a nice little breakfast!

We bought an electrical citrus juicer a while back. So i took all our oranges - around 6 i think and juiced them in no time! Made around 700-800ml of juice i should think. See the orange juice at the back of the picture? Fish ate one of the oranges before and commented that it was not very sweet, however, when we drank the juice this morning, it was very sweet, full of pulp and very filling.

I took 4 cherry tomatoes on its vine and placed in the pan with olive oil. I also thickly sliced up mushroom and fried them on the same pan with the tomatoes. The tomatoes are just left on their own to cook.

Now for the scrambled eggs. I used Gordon Ramsey's way of making scrambled eggs. I placed 5 eggs - cracked directly in the pot. Then i added butter straight into the eggs - as much butter as you like, it makes the eggs creamy. Then place the pot over the fire and stir. Keep stirring till the eggs start to cook. Take it off the fire and continue to stir, then put it back onto the fire and back and forth till necessary.

Do not salt the eggs till they are nearly done as it makes the eggs watery - we don't want that do we?

I added milk - though Gordon adds Crème fraîche, but i didn't have that so i just added milk.

The eggs are of a different texture that i am used to. Its like little bits of eggs all stuck together. I quite like it actually.

Oh, for the bread, i use white bread with 25% of wheat - you can't see the wheat in the bread and can't taste it - so this is good for people who want the nutrients of wholemeal but who do not like the texture - someone like Fish.

I don't like to toast my bread, i prefer to fry them in butter. Melt the butter in the pan then place the bread on top of the butter and turn over to ensure that both sides are buttered. Then leave it on its own and just let it fry and turn over do that both sides are nice and browned. Very nice!

Try the scrambled eggs and let me know if you guys enjoyed it!

Fish Recreates Baked Rice!

Fish decided he would cook dinner a few nights ago and we decided to make baked rice again.

Down to foodworks - our minimart downstairs, we bought pure cream, mushrooms and chicken schnitzel - which already had flour etc on it.

I don't exactly know how he cooked it in detail, but here's what i know.

He cooked the rice longer in the pot with the liquids so it became nice and mushy - not totally.

He fried the chicken first then cut them into strips and placed them on top before adding the cheeses.

He sliced his mushrooms thickly - which works really well and you can taste the mushroom better.

I think he added more stock too.

Anyways, it was nicer than my version. Try it - its really quite simple. A tip though, don't fry the chicken till its perfectly golden brown cause it will continue to brown in the oven - so just a little under what you would call perfect on the chicken!

Here I go again!!

Guess where have i been again! Din Tai Fung! HaHa..

DSC00184

I just can't resist it. We went back again a few nights ago. Really early dinner though, i think..around 1730.

DSC00191 DSC00194

They are having a Spring Special now, so they have Xiao Long Baos in baskets of 8. I ate one in the picture already.. :p And look at the soup! Eat these hot and warm - not cold. We tend to leave them and eat them slowly, but i realised that if you leave till they're cold, the soup becomes a little sticky because of the fat content. So eat them nice and warm!

DSC00185

And of course..my all time favourite! Fried Rice! Look how pretty it is! I really must try Singapore's one again. I still think Singapore's one is nicer.

I sure had my yam dumplings again! Yum!