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Saturday, August 07, 2010

Dad’s Beef Stew.

One of the best things that happened on my parents’ trip here was that my dad decided to use this piece of beef that i bought a million years ago – i had no idea what that piece of meat was. It was a beef brisket with bone.

He decided to make a stew and there was no definitive recipe for him to use – so he made up his own. We loved it so so much, we went to the Butcher’s the next day and got 1.5kg of ox/beef tail.

Using nearly half a bottle of Brown Brothers Tarrango.

Here’s the recipe i got off him. – not 100% accurate – just play around with ingredients. It’s not 100% western, nor is it 100% chinese.

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Ingredients

1.5kg Ox tail – get the butcher to chop it for you (or beef brisket w/ bone and fats – which is cheaper but has a lot more fats)
1/2 bottle of red wine (any quality is ok. there is a difference, but it’s ok. we used a $5 bottle the 2nd time)
Dark Soya Sauce
1-2 roughly chopped carrots (the carrots we had were really sweet)
Onions
Leeks
Celery
Spring Onions
Potato
*You can see what veggies you have and use accordingly – we didn’t use celery the first time and didn’t use leeks the second time. It was ok.

Directions

In a pot of boiling water, add the ox tail/beef and let it cook. This is to get rid of any gamey taste the beef might have. Let it cook for approx 10-15mins.

Discard the water and place the beef back into the pot. Add around 1/2 bottle of red wine. and the veggies. Add water enough to cover it generously. Cover and let it gently simmer for 2 hours and 30 minutes.

The beef should be extremely tender and the soup flavoursome but.

It will be very sweet – because of the wine and the veggies.

my dad then came up with the idea of adding a little dark soya sauce which was a great idea – it added richness, colour and saltiness to the dish.

*Make sure it is dark soya sauce – which is much darker in colour and less salty than soya sauce itself.

The dish is now ready to be served. Perfect!

The stew is sticky – from the fats and the wine, the meat is tender and very flavourful.

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That day, we also took out of small little steamboat pot – instead, we ended up preferring to bbq our food instead. We bought salmon and thinly sliced those, there were vegetarian tofu, prawns and marinated pork slices.

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Fish even ran down to get a pack of VB to accompany the dinner. and to cook
some of our food in. See the aluminium foil in the bbq tray, we would place the slices of salmon, prawns and tofu there to cook – adding a good amount of VB and salt. Adds a great fragrance to the food.

A very very good dinner. and i hope it happens again soon. =)

Sunday, August 01, 2010

The joys of living in a high rise apartment. and etc.

The wind is wonderful today!

It is so cooling, so alluring.. it gets so cold, but yet when it leaves you want it back so badly.

It is such a great Sunday. I’ve even passed up on a sponsored shopping trip just to stay home, enjoy the breeze and relax.

Last year, we were still living in our rented landed house. and it was hell. it was hot hot hot. nothing but hot. it was one of the worst places i’ve ever lived in. but now moving to our new apartment on the 7th floor. the wind is delectable. and and.. just to distract from the wind. i get to watch the Food Network on SCV! The lousy landed house didn’t have cabling done and we didn’t have access to SCV for nearly 2 years!!

My new house is a condo called Braddell View in .. obviously.. Braddell. It is quite an old condo. It is a huge estate with loads of greenery – which my dad loves loves. all our houses always have greenery. as many of you would know, our previous condo was ‘Green Meadows’. the concept of the condos are similar and both were huge estates – but i think this one is bigger – or maybe just more high rise buildings.

Our lift actually says..’thank you for waiting’ haha. the first time we heard it i didn’t think that it was really the lift – i thought it was someone’s phone making noise. haha

7th floor is quite ok. though it’s the lowest we’ve ever stayed in – if i try very hard to erase the memory of the landed house. The first HDB we stayed in was on the 24th floor. that was awesome.

Then we moved to green meadows and that was on the 8th floor. and now Braddell View at the 7th floor.

a little higher could be better. but i’m happy. i don’t sweat when i sleep at night. and waking up in the morning is so comfy and it brings a smile to my face when i’m snug under the blanket with foggy. and my body feels cool and dry. instead of uncomfortable and sticky. the only thing left now is to get a better quality bedsheet.

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My mum bought this very cute bedsheet when she was at Brunei. and it really is cute. the only thing is. it was scratchy. when i first came back – it was uncomfortable. it was so scratchy.. but i got used to it. and it’s ok now. though not perfect. next quest: get a good bedsheet. oh and a good pillow.

and that’s foggy lying there. so very very cute!

Ooo. since we’re on the way.. below is my first meal eating out.

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Eaten at Square 2 i think. Not sure what the building name is – but it’s the one connected to Novena Square. It’s Ban Mian! Not the best but it was the first dish i ate since coming back. and i’ve eaten many more since then! hahaha

Bye for now. We’re going to have yu pian mi fen (鱼片米粉) tonight! I’l be sure to remember to bring me camera!

I’m going to read my book ‘The Book Thief” now. and watch Food Network HD (ch. 468) as well!

YUM YUM YUM!

Something Different…

Hello!

I know it has been some time since i last blogged. I realised that i don’t blog as much when i’m in Singapore. but i do want to record my memories, so i’ll try harder.

So. Just a quick update. (After typing this all.. it’s actually not a quick one. hehe)

I’ve started work at StarHub – in their call centre. and i’ve been through the first week of training. I’ve made great friends and i’ve so far – enjoyed myself.

One of my trainers – Luke – has a vegetarian food blog where he blogs about vegetarian eateries and his opinion on them. So it is quite cool since i’ve been to some of those places when i was a vegetarian a few years back!

On another note,

I’ve been listening to the same album for the last 2-3 weeks. i really do like it a lot.

The singer is Darius Rucker and he’s a black country singer. Awesome….

The album i’m listening to right now is ‘Learn to Live’ and i love love every single song on the album.

I listen to it every morning during my journey from home to work. and i think it puts me in a good mood. It’s upbeat and every song tells a story and some touches your heart. The lyrics are quite well written and he doesn’t sing about irrelevant issues. He sings of love, death… real issues that real people face. I like that. and i find it heartening to find such a singer in the current music industry.

I love all the songs – but there are some favourites..

1. History in the Making – Such a sweet song.. awfully fit for a wedding, anniversary.

“This could be one of those memories
We wanna hold on to
We wanna cling to 
The one we can’t forget

Baby this could be our last first kiss
The dawn to forever
What if this was that moment?
A chance worth taking”

2. Alright – telling yourself that everything is alright, all you need is to look at the little things around you. =)

“Cause i’ve got a roof over my head
the woman i love laying in my bed
And it’s alright, alright

I’ve got shoes under my feet
Forever in her eyes staring back at me
And it’s alright, alright

I’ve got all i need
And it’s alright by me”

3. It won’t be like this for long – this is a song that would touch a parent’s heart. A song that carries you through the tantrums and the frustration of a growing child.

“It won’t be like this for long
One day soon you’ll drop her off and she won’t even know you’re gone
This phrase is gonna fly by, if you can just hold on,
It won’t be like this for long.

He lays done there beside her
and just watching her it breaks his heart
cause he already knows,
It won’t be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be all grown up and gone
and this phrase is gonna fly by
so he’s trying to hold on
It won’t be like this for long…”

4. If I had wings – This has to be my favourite favourite song. The message is so strong.

”Why do we hate?
Why do we suffer?
Why do we make our mistakes and constantly blame one another?
Why is there war?
And why is there killing?
Have we forgotten some secret we knew back when we were just children?

If i had wings, i’d fly up to heaven
I’d look down from the clouds
On everything
Then i could find
All the things we’ve been missing
I would have all the answers
If i had wings”

5. While i still got the time – A song reminding you to cherish all you have in the short time we have.

“39 candles burnt out on a cake
Each representin’ a million mistakes
The last one still burns, there’s a wish I can make
This time I’m getting’ it right
So I close my eyes and I take a deep breath
And I promise myself in the time I have left

I’m gonna work like I don’t need the money
I’m gonna laugh like I’m not afraid to cry
I’m gonna dance like nobody’s watchin’
I’m gonna love while I still got the time”

I’ve named some of my favourites – i could list them all –  i really really do like them all. Enough for me to share the album with you guys!

I’ll be back with more pictures of food! Quiches and food that i’ve eaten since my return!

Oh. and along the lines of being random. I’ve just painted my nails a beautiful dark blue after wearing China Glaze’s Four Leaf Clover for 2 weeks. I just bought it for $3 @ The Face Shop and the colour’s beautiful but the formula is bad bad bad. hehe. just being random =)

Oooo.. and i bought a new book today. Heard 2 aunties talking about it and saying that it’s quite a good recipe book. So i got it since i want try making swiss rolls.

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It comes with 2 DVDs as well. So i hope to learn loads from it.

Since i’ve drifted to the topic of books. I’ve just bought 2 books from the bookdepositoryUK. One is ‘The book thief” and the other is “The Story of English”. Reading “The Book Thief”.

Oh. and Fish is going to back to Australia tml and i’ll be all alone till November. I’m so so sad. I’ll miss him loads and i sure can’t wait till we can be back in Australia together again!

Ok. i think this has gone on long enough. hehe.

See ya soon! =)