Drowsy

I woke up today feeling uncomfortable. Felt like puking. Didn’t puke.

So, i ate TravelCalm which i eat when i go onto a plane to prevent myself from getting sick.

and i ate 1 small banana muffin.

Felt better an hour later – not totally though.

So, i walked up the hated High Street.

The sun was shining, it was uncomfortable, but Fish helped me carry my bag which helped a lot.

So i reached 1 hour late for lecture and realized that my friends left because it was too boring.

So now, i’m all alone here in the lecture. and i’m drowsy.

I forgot that TravelCalm makes one drowsy and/or sleepy.

So now, i can’t keep my eyes open. and my head feels heavy/light.

So smart! and i’m really sleepy now..

Are you sleepy too?

Shopping & Macchiato, Sydney

So, a few days ago, we went to the city and i wasn’t intending to go to Victoria’s Basement – they have an amount of cookware at way cheaper prices. but Fish needed to go to the toilet and i had to go in there to wait for him.

I couldn’t help it. I bought 2 things.

 
I bought a small wooden spoon from Mario Batali’s range of cookware. If you notice, both ends of the wooden spoon are spoons, one bigger and one smaller. I’ve got 2 wooden spoons already – one is a normal sized wooden spoon and the other is a normal sized but with a flat edge wooden spoon so that it can be used as a frying spatula as well. Sometimes, i think to myself.. they’re too big for some purposes.. i need a smaller one. and i found one.

I have been reading about Teflon non-stick surfaces and read of some of the possible dangers regarding it. Before, i found Green Pan – which is a eco friendly frying pan. but it was quite expensive. So on this trip, i found another brand that does a eco friendly frying pan as well. and they look better than Green Pan.

I bought the smallest size – it was the cheapest (AUD$30, original price AUD$100). and also cause i just wanted to try and out and see how it works. I have not had a chance to try it yet. but i will let you guys know.

It is eco friendly i think because it doesn’t use chemicals to create that non-stick coating, but the layers between are ceramic, which is also what the non-stick surface is made from. So it is PTFE and PFOA free. because the non-stick surface is created using naturally occurring minerals such as dirt, sand and rocks. This i think is quite important as you guys should all know that a Teflon non-stick pan can only withstand to up to a certain temperature (240 degrees) after which it would emit harmful chemicals. I don’t know for sure if i have or will ever reach that temperature – but still.. it is kinda unsettling to know.

If i like it, and i hope i do. They claim that it has better heat distribution and more durable. So, i’ll definitely update when i have a conclusive opinion about this pan.

So.. these 2 stuffs i bought at Victoria’s Basement. QVB also has a small German bakery which we’ve just discovered and i love their pretzels more than the one at Central Station.

Time for dinner.

We decided to try a new place near World Square that i’ve always said we should try but never did. so we did this time.

It’s called Macchiato. It’s an Italian restaurant – pizza, pasta and mains.

I always love a good garlicky garlic bread. This one is above average. Very buttery and soft. I would love more garlic though – but that’s just me.

We had a Caesar salad – which is one of our favourites now. The Caesar salad here was nice and very delicious – even the croutons.

Fish had a Angus beef steak special with hand cut fries and steamed broccoli. I was immediately drawn to the fries – i am a carbo person. The steak was medium well done and it was tender and the fats were full of flavour.

And we ordered a pizza to share. Sydney Supreme. We ate 2 slices each and took the other 1/2 home and had it for brunch today. Delicious wood-fired pizzas.

 
To accompany the dinner, Fish ordered a cocktail. I don’t remember the name. but it had Kahula, Bailey’s, another alcohol, milk and honey. It was delicious.

And to end the meal, we ordered a tiramisu. It was really really good and alcoholic.

So, in all, we had a good day. and i hope you did too.

Tomorrow is Australia Day and i think we will be going to Bunnings.

and i will be flying back this Sat! can’t wait!

Eating Time! – i just baked Chocolate chip peanut butter cookies!

Today’s Delivery & Tonight’s 3 Course Dinner

Hello Hello!

This week, we decided that we’ll try our veggie and fruits delivery from a new company – Boxfresh

I got the small chef box which costs $40.

The difference here is that from flemingtondirect i usually get the mover’s or standard box, which is more expensive than the small chef box – i decided on the small since we were going back to Singapore soon and didn’t want to have fresh food that we couldn’t finish on time.

 
Other than that, the box is a recycled Styrofoam box which, included in the $40 is a $5 refundable deposit for the box. So this means that i have to keep the box and return it when the delivery guy delivers the next order. Flemington uses a new carton box each time and we just throw that away. I’m not sure which way i like more since the styrofoam box is good as it’s recycled, but it takes up space in my kitchen and my kitchen is not big. but as far as cooking dinner tonight, it wasn’t in the way.

 
The choices are not as customizable as flemingtondirect’s where i could choose almost exactly what i wanted and what i didn’t want.

Boxfresh has a ‘standard’ list for every week and from there, i can choose what fruits or veggies that i wanted or didn’t want. but there are things like potatoes which are not offered this week – whereas i could have potatoes delivered from flemingtondirect in every order.

I got a relatively good variety of stuffs. Just a quick run through.

1 Red & 3 Brown Onions, Basil, 1 bag of Snap Peas, 2 bags of beans, 3 carrots, 1 bag of Baby Spinach, 3 bunches of Bok Choi, 6 Bananas, 2 corns, 3 small & 1 big red chilli, 1 small bag of red grapes, 1/2 pumpkin, 1 head of brocolli, 2 green capsicum and 1 box of oyster mushrooms.

Hmm…. i’m not 100% sure if it is of better value than flemingtondirect’s. I shall have to think about that a bit.

But it is of good quality – the fruits and veggies are fresh looking and packaged nicely.

So, with all these veggies and fruits, i started making dinner.

It has been said that fruits should be eaten first – so i washed the grapes and left them on the dining table so that Fish would be able to eat them once he came upstairs.

Then, i decided, with so much veggies, i should make roasted veggies!

I had to go to the store downstairs to get some cream for the dessert, so i bought some mushrooms and potatoes to add to the roasted veggies mix.

(I had to stop here for a moment – a GINORMOUS spider was crawling on my bed!!!!)

Back to veggies.

Don’t be afraid of roasting loads of veggies at once. Lie your baking dish with aluminium foil – it does not eliminate washing up, but it does make life easier.

Olive oil or Extra Virgin olive oil is essential, so are some dried herbs, salt and pepper.

In this bake, i used:

1/4 pumpkin
4 potatoes
2 white onions
1 carrot
1/2 head of broccoli
9 white mushrooms
1/2 green capsicum

You need loads of oil. A good coating.

All the veggies are hopefully diced in approximately the same size. Don’t dice them the size you want to eat them in, dice them slightly bigger than that as they will shrink.

Give it a good sprinkle of dried herbs – i used dried Italian herbs and dried rosemary. Salt and pepper too.

I wore a plastic glove to mix everything well.

The veggies should be nearly overflowing your roasting pan. Don’t worry. They will shrink. If you look at the picture, it is only half full after cooking.

You have to roast for a long time. and you will need to take it out of the oven to toss and turn a few times. I had to take out the broccoli and mushrooms first as they were browning way faster than the harder veggies.

I started roasting them in a 180 degrees preheated oven. but towards the end, when i knew that the hard veggies were all cooked, i turned it up to 220 to get them to brown faster.

To go with veggies, we decided on a simple spaghetti that is delicious.

At first, i only wanted plain spaghetti, but fish convinced me to go with this – this is one of my favourites.

Simple. 3 ingredients. Spaghetti, chorizo and loads of garlic.

If cooking for one, the oil from the chorizos should be enough. But you might just want to add a little butter or olive oil.

This is also one where i would try switching with kabanas – since i don’t really eat the chorizos as they are very salty. Fish loves them.

Today fish also added chilli flakes. Spicy!

Usually, this would be enough for me, but i was afraid there wouldn’t be enough meat for fish – he makes a lot of noise when he doesn’t get enough protein. So, i bought chicken schnitzel from downstairs and just fried it up.

(haha.. if you realised, we ran out of paper towels and so i used a brown paper bag instead to soak up the oil)

Lastly, i made dessert – Fish has been requesting this for a long long time. So i made it today.

  
Bread and butter pudding. Only, i used too much butter.. hehe.. i used a tissue to soak up the excess oil.

This is a really quick and simple dessert to make. Only – i didn’t use enough sugar – i don’t like things sweet, but i really should have used more sugar. I’ll make a custard sauce to go with it tml and increase it’s sweetness.

I haven’t found a definitive recipe yet, but i will share when the time is ripe.

Today’s a 3 course meal!

Going out for dim sum tml!! yay! hopefully we can wake up……

Going to cook dinner again on Sunday – making Pork Ribs soup with peanuts and etc…

Till then.. Eat well and Sleep well!

Lasagne!

Last night, i decided to make lasagne and i searched the net a little to look for a cook recipe. and i found Gordon Ramsay’s.

I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand and so i definitely did not use his recipe in the entirety. and the thing is. beef in australia has a gamey taste. So far the normal beef that we’ve tried in the supermarket tastes ok. but i bought angus beef mince that day and used it for lasagne and it was not good.

I hate that gamey taste – which resembles lamb. and i don’t like it.

So, next time, i’ll make this using the other beef mince which has no gamey taste.

It isn’t too difficult to make. and i love love love the cheese sauce. and i love love love instant egg lasagne sheets.

Ingredients

Bolognaise

300g minced beef
2 Kabana Sausages – our new favourite!, sliced and fried
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf (optional)
1 can chopped tomatoes
1tbsp tomato puree
50 ml milk
Dried Oregon & Dried Italian Herbs
Salt & Pepper

*Other ingredients possible include grated carrots, red wine

Cheese Sauce

25g Butter
25g Flour
300ml Milk
50g Cheddar Cheese (you could definitely use more or less according to taste)
Salt & Pepper

4 sheets Instant Egg Lasagne Sheets (depends on the size of your sheets you may need more or less – or break them up to fit your dish as they should not overlap)

Directions

In a saucepan, add olive oil and diced onions. Give them a while to sweat and become translucent then add in your chopped garlic. Fry till aromatic.

Add in the minced beef. Fry till nicely brown. Add in the tomato puree and the can of chopped tomatoes together with the dried herbs and bay leaf.

When nearly done, add in the milk and take it off the heat. Leave it aside.

Now, in another saucepan, we start cooking the cheese sauce.

Start by making a roux. Melt the butter down and then add in the flour – it does not need to be sifted.

It should form a nice paste. In low heat, add 1/3 of the milk and mix in well. Add the second 1/3 and using a whisk, whisk vigorously to get rid of the lumps. When nearly there, add in the remainder of the milk and whisk again.

Add the grated cheddar cheese. Whisk together into a smooth creamy white sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

You should now have a smooth, creamy and delicious white sauce.

Now, to assemble the lasagne.

At the bottom layer, place 1/2 of the meat sauce. A layer of pasta. 1/2 white sauce. the other 1/2 meat sauce. Pasta. the rest of the cheese sauce.

I sprinkled the top with cheese (i used a mixture called ‘pizza plus’). and Japanese panko. Delicious!

Into the oven for 225 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

*****A note on our new favourite sausage.

We love chorizo sausages. but we’ve found a new favourite. Kabana Sausages.

(Taken from ‘Don’ website)

Kabana, derived from 'Klobasa' meaning sausage, is a typical eastern European thin sausage that originated in Poland and Russia. One of our most popular deli products, the Kabana is an icon of the Aussie barbeque platter.

DON^® Kabana has a strong, distinctive flavour characterised by cracked black pepper, paprika and finished with a mild smokiness.

They are most commonly dry to very dry in texture and smoky in flavor. Kabana, unlike other meats such as sausage, are typically eaten alone as an appetizer, and often served with cheese.

Kabana are commonly used as hiking food because they do not spoil as quickly as many other sausages.

(Taken from ‘Don’ website)

It is delicious. As compared to chorizo, it has a less intense flavour – definitely not spicy and has a milder smokiness. What makes it nice is also that it’s not as salty as chorizo. Sometimes, chorizos just get a little too salty, but this is well seasoned and flavoured.

The only downside to using this in place of chorizos is that you lose that delicious looking red oil that comes out of the chorizos. which is also a good thing because kabanas are not as oily as chorizos. If you look at the picture below, you can see that there is no residual oil at the bottom of the pan. whereas chorizos would have a beautiful red oil.

 
I’m coming home soon in 2 weeks and i’ll be eating loads of local foods then! yay!!

See ya everyone!! =)

Dinner – Deep Fried Mushrooms, Sujebi & Fried Bee Hoon

For the last 2 days, i have been cooking dinner.

So… yesterday, i cooked Sujebi again and tried Deep Fried Mushrooms.

Deep fried mushrooms! Using a beer batter.

I don’t have an exact recipe. but i do know what goes into it to give it a crispy and fragrant batter.

Plain flour, Corn flour, Beer (i used Coopers Sparkling Ale), Salt, Pepper, Italian Herbs and Dried thyme. Make a nice thick batter.

It must be eaten hot. We didn’t and by the time it cooled and we ate it, it was all soggy.

So, it’s important – eat is while it’s hot and crispy! and it really is very crispy and good.

I made Sujebi again – because we have a lot of kimchi left.

This time, Fish fried up a good amount of bacon and added it to the Sujebi – quite nice. I did use a different recipe for the dough – but i’m not sure which one i like better – so… i still have to experiment.

Tonight, i tried to cook 星洲炒米. Ironically, it is Singapore Fried Noodles. which Singapore obviously does not have. However, i have eaten it at restaurants and i actually really like the flavour. So i tried it tonight.

 
It was similar, but not there. The meat that they always put into this dish is ham, but i didn’t have that, so i just sliced up and marinated a pork chop. It was ok but not perfect.

The flavour was acceptable and it is not perfect. but it is very 爽口. Meaning it’s not cloying nor was it oily – so you could eat an amount and not feel like you’ve ate a lot – at least that’s what Fish said.

I will try cooking this again – but it is very troublesome and it makes a mess.

I made chocolate sorbet tonight. Not the most successful – it was a little grainy and not smooth. So i definitely have to try that again.

Did you have a great dinner?