Have i ever told you guys i LOVE shopping bags?

Haha… i LOVE buying reusable shopping bags! I have more of these than my real bags – actually – i only have my green lacoste handbag and 2 haversacks.

I have a mixture of shopping bags bought from supermarkets – these usually look very very generic and obiang (fashionless).

I bought another one for $2 at cotton on which can zip into a small pouch of some sort – i bring that around everyday for those situations that i suddenly need a bag.

I buy shopping bags that look pretty and nice – and they’re cheap too!

This only really started when i came to Australia – they’re bigger on shopping bags than Singapore is, although Singapore is coming up.

Guess what?!

I am going on a spree to buy more bags!

www.greenfeet.com has beautifully simple bags – called the ChicoBag

They’re more expensive than supermarket ones – they are able to be folded into a tiny pouch and look way more fashionable than supermarket ones.

I’m getting them with a slight discount – I’ve read both positive and negative reviews about this, so i’ve decided to just get one and test it out first.

These were be my presents this time round – trying to get everyone to use reusable shopping bags – trust me, they’re better on your hands too. Especially in Australia, they use such thin thin thin plastic bags that they bite into your flesh.

Did i tell you guys about the incident a few weeks ago – for the 1st time we forget to bring our shopping bags and got punished. We bought a few stuffs and one of the loousy plastic bag had a glass bottle of olive oil in it, so, while we were browsing in Myers, the shopping bag BROKE! and the bottle of oil feel onto the ground breaking into a million bits and oil was all over the place! How embarrassing!

Since then, i am never going grocery shopping without my trusty shopping bags which are wayyy sturdier and stronger.

Fish always had a problem with it looking really out of place if we were to go for dinner at a restaurant etc and i think ChicoBag might just solve my problem!

I’ll let you guys know my verdict after i get mine! =)

Oh, by the way, the real reason i’m buying from greenfeet.com is because Klean Kanteen has a new colour! RED! Haha… so fish says that i can get a red one and he’ll have my black one. YAY!

Hehe…

Lazy me.. Quotey mood…

Hehe… been lazy again… have not been updating my blog.

Anyways, i’m here to share quotes which i just found online, was reading through some forums and someone shared this quote which i found so true and so sweet.

"I know that when you're young, it feels like everyday the world is going to end, but it's not. One day you'll find a boy who will treat you exactly how you deserve to be treated, who thinks that the sun rises and sets with you."

It sounds like something a grandmother would say to comfort or advice her granddaughter. So so true..so so sweet.

“One of the greatest titles we can have is "old friend". We never appreciate how important old friends are until we are older. The problem is we need to start our old friendships when we are young. We then have to nurture and grow those friendships over our middle age when a busy life and changing geographies can cause us to neglect those friends. Today is the day to invest in those people we hope will call us 'old friend" in the years to come.”

i don know…hmm…. will i have an old friend in the future?

“It is explained that all relationships require a little give and take. This is untrue. Any partnership demands that we give and give and give and at the last, as we flop into our graves exhausted, we are told that we didn't give enough.”

HA. HA. HA.
Ghost: But i’ve tried my best.
King of Hell: Your best is not enough.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech

Such impactful words…such inspirational words…such difficult actions…

“Courage is not the absence of fear but the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all. For now you are travelling the road between who you think you are and who you can be.”

This was in Princess Diaries – something i always try to remember – but yet..i am a scardy cat i’m afraid.

Finallyi leave you with a very very sad quote that i recently heard when watching the movie “Four Funerals and a Wedding”. This was given as a eulogy in a funeral.

“Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bonel,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let the aeroplanes circle, moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message 'He is Dead'.

Put crepe bows 'round the white necks of the public doves,
Let traffic policemen wear black, cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East, and West.

My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good

(W.H. Auden)

Time Out Again!

Hehe… i’ve posted 4 posts today – with 2 recipes, birthday cakes and 1 mini-restaurant review.

Have fun reading and please try them out for yourselves if possible. =)

There’re still posts coming up. I can’t wait to share my updated banana recipe which tastes heavenly (hehe). However, i haven taken a picture of that – so it will have to wait a little. =)

See ya!

Remember my Chilli from the previous post? + 3 onion Oil

This is the first time my chilli has been used in a dish which was wonderful!

We love our green beans – or short long beans.

So fish suggested that we should fry the green beans in my chilli paste. So, here goes.

I fried the green beans in the 3 onion oil.

I think i’ll give you guys the recipe for the 3 onion oil which i learnt from youtube – a chinese cooking show.

Ingredients

Spring Onions (only the white section) – sliced into long sections
Shallots – sliced
Brown onions – sliced
Olive/Vegetable Oil

Directions

In the appropriate amount of oil in a saucepan, add the 3 different kinds of onions. Cook till fragrant or until the onions turn a slight brown and take it off the fire – remember that it will continue to cook, so don’t overcook it. We only use the whiter portions of the spring onions for the green parts contain more water which will cause the oil to splatter!

After it cools, place into a bottle or just a bowl and store in the fridge. It will turn white like wax when cold – you can just scrape and place into the dish you’re making. It also dissolves back to oil really fast.

I always add the onions into my dish as well – just not the spring onion cause they’re really long.

You can also use this oil for whatever you’re cooking. I used this oil to fry a simple fried rice to add flavour.

This was really simple as well. I don’t remember the exact ingredients used but i think i can give you a list.

Ingredients

Big spoonful of chilli – or how spicy you like it
Sake – or any cooking wine – just a little to add sweetness and fragrance
Dark Soya Sauce – so that when it reduces it creates a sticky caramelised texture for the chilli to stick
Light Soya Sauce – for seasoning
3 Onion Oil

Directions

Fry the green beans in the onion oil till they’re slightly softened. Add the ingredients in whatever order you desire. Just be careful as the sake splatters slightly, but a little is enough.

Fry and Fry and taste if you’re happy with the saltiness and spiciness and if the raw veggie taste has left.

I can see this as a dish that i will be cooking often cause it tastes great!

Oh, this actually went well with fried spam (luncheon meat) bits. =)

Ramen Kan

We love Ramen Kan at Bondi Junction. So, this time we went back and i took some pictures of what i ate that was good.

To refresh. Ramen Kan makes a very very very good Karaage Chicken. We also love their deep fried broccoli and eggplant. These 3 are definite orders whenever we go.

Their tonkatsu ramen is also really good.

This time, i decided to try their aburi salmon don. Which is slightly inconsistent in service. The first time Hui tried it, it was ok only – but that was during a busy dinner service. This time me and fish went around 3pm so it was a very relaxed setting.

The salmon pieces were lightly grilled in the bowl, so the top was cooked but the insides were raw – just the way i like my salmon. Although i do like them all 3 ways – cooked, raw and aburi-ed.

Notice the big plate of raw veggies in the forefront of the first picture, they have this sauce on it that i LOVE. I eat ALL my veggies there. Haha.

Can’t wait to go back again!

Birthday Cakes!

Ok..we had a few birthdays in the month of July. Namely, mummy’s, fish and shi hui.

Mummy and Fish has the same birthday – 13th July and Shi Hui is 31st July.

For Mummy, we decided to try a walnut cheesecake from Hilton Singapore.

It wasn’t bad – it tasted good, i really liked it. The only downside is that it’s a really really dense cake. Each of us could only eat one slice.

For Fish, i got a cake from La Renaissance Café Patisserie up in The Rocks. It’s a heavy alcoholic Black Forest Cake. Fish loved it. It tastes great but – i don’t like alcohol that much so i couldn’t take the cake.

Shi Hui got her favourite cake from all her friends – 85 degree’s Chocolate Mousse Cake. It was good – her favourite – not mine.

I can’t wait for my birthday cake – though i have no idea what cake i want … hmm…. time to start thinking!

Hope you had a wonderful birthday cake too!

Simple Homemade Chilli with no Shrimp

Well… i’ve been wanting to make my own sambal chilli for the longest time ever but never got the chance to. So now, i have.

The only thing is – it’s vegetarian. Fish does not like seafood, so there is no he bi (little dried shrimps) and belachan. It is just a really simple chilli.

There are also some changes to the ingredients.

Ingredients

15 big red chillis
10 chilli padi
Enough onions
Enough Ginger and Garlic

Directions

Okay. The ingredient list is slightly vague. In Singapore, we would have used small red onions called shallots here. However, these are expensive here so i used big red onions instead and added a white onion for sweetness.

Also, ginger and garlic is necessary to make it fragrant because of the lack of shrimp, so make sure you use a substantial amount of that.

I followed my grandmother way of measurement. Take a normal rice bowl. At the end after blending, my was about 3/4 onions and 1/4 garlic ginger. If you add a bowl of this mixture, you should also be adding a bowl of chilli paste. Give or take. It doesn’t have to be accurately measured, don’t worry.

The big red onions as i have found out, release a lot of water. Therefore, it takes time to fry.

In a big frying pan, add oil. I added my 3 onion oil (i haven blogged about this – have i? i will after this) and added the onion ginger garlic paste and fry till fragrant. Add the chilli paste after this and just keep frying and frying and frying and frying until the whole paste dries up into a slightly stiff paste and changes color to a slightly darker shade. Fry it till as dry as you like – mine wasn’t ultra dry.

This picture is when i first started frying – notice the amount of liquid and bright redness. Keep frying till if all comes together and end up like something you know or like the first picture above.

Obviously this is my first attempt, it turned out well but i think i will add more ginger and garlic next time to make it even better. You can experiment with different proportions of the different ingredients and create your own secret recipe!

Time Out!

Hehe…. i am soooo lazy…. i wanted to do like 10 posts in a day – then i decided not to – wayyy too many

So, scroll down and find the latest 3 posts – 2 simple simple recipes and a birthday party.

I shall continue tomorrow.

What’s coming? My Homemade Chilli, Giovanni Restaurant Review, Pictures of Birthday Cakes, Pictures of Ramen Kan, Longan Red Date Tea and Banana Muffins Update!

Catch all of this in time to come!

See Ya!

Wako Japanese Restaurant

This is where Shi Hui held her birthday dinner.

Me and Fish went along with all her other friends – 15 of us in total.

Food was great. Slightly on the expensive side. But quite worth it.

Tofu Dango Balls

These are really nice bouncy balls – a little like tang yuen.

I got the recipe off ‘cookingwithdog’ on youtube.

Really easy to do too!

They look yellow in the picture but they really are white.

Ingredients

200g silken soft tofu
200g glutinous rice flour

Directions

Way too simple. Place both ingredients in a bowl and mix together with hands. They will form a dough that seems to stick together but also seem to be falling apart. Try it and you will understand what i mean.

Make into little balls – like little tang yuens and place into boiling water. They are cooked when they float.

They can be stored in the fridge or eaten fresh. They will stick to each other like gum! but no worries – they retain their shape real well after they’re cooked – so just grab a ball and PULL!

If you kept them outside or in the fridge, they will become hard – but no worries again – just warm them up in hot water or zenzai (Red bean soup) and they will become soft and chewy again.

Enjoy!

Black Glutinous Rice – My Fav!

Black Glutinous Rice is my favourite dessert + breakfast ever! Especially since i LOVE coconut cream soooo much!

I’ve always loved this dish and yet i’ve never realised how easy it is to make it.

This is all you need.

For 3 portions – not huge portions

Ingredients

1 cup Black Glutinous Rice
Enough Water
Coconut Sugar (Mine comes in a log that has been halved so i use around 1/4 of the whole log)
Coconut Cream

Directions

Wash the rice well then add enough water to simmer the rice for around 2 hours. It takes time for the rice to softened. I have never really measured the time it took – it takes a while but not forever.

Don’t be too hasty in adding additional water – check its consistency first.

After it has softened, add in as much or as little coconut sugar as you like. I shave the sugar so that it dissolves fast. Don’t add this in too early as it will create the thick texture that when bubbling, spits all over the countertop!

Another important thing is to remember to stir!!! Although nearly everytime i made it, the bottom sticks a little – i always forget to stir. =)

Add loads of coconut cream and enjoy!

Loads of Recipes!

Hi Guys… sorry for the long break between the posts.

Uni has started and i am getting busy in the kitchen as well – though not as much as i would like. However, i have been making some foods..small and big and so i will post the recipes and pictures (hopefully) in the next few blog posts..which i will hopefully complete by tonight.

There will also be one or two mini reviews of restaurants that i’ve been to.

Loads of Love!