Joe Hisaishi & Studio Ghibil

JB Hi-Fi had a 20% discount off all DVD and CDs – coincidentally on the day we went to the Town Galleries Victoria branch.

and i bought DVDs that i’ve always wanted to get.

I got 3 Studio Ghibli Collection DVDs. Laputa in the Sky, Kiki’s Delivery Service and Howl’s Moving Castle.

I’ve watched all and they are so so so beautiful. The animation is really something. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every single one of these animation.

and other than the wonderful animation – the music struck us too.

Joe Hisaishi is a master at what he does. His music is so so so enchanting. I can’t imagine someone actually composing and imagining the music inspired by the animation in front of him.

All 3 had great music – but i’m going to share with you guys a favourite between me and fish. (btw, i went ebay and got 4 of his albums – opps)

I hope you guys enjoy this beautiful tune from Howl’s Moving Castle.

and i might just continue thinking about which other animes i wanna get. =)

Sick.

Being sick is so no fun.

I hardly get sick. but unfortunately. i am.

and i have an essay due next week. perfect timing!

being sick makes me feel sick. it makes me feel bad. like i shouldn’t be lying in bed. and doing nothing the whole day. (although i do like to do that.. hehe)

but but. it makes me feel nice too.

having fish look after me. cook porridge for me. cover blankie for me. all good.

i don’t feel up to going to uni. and that’s worst. cause i’ve already missed some tuts. as the aussies asy it: bloody hell.

i’ve just got to cross my fingers and hope my teacher will be nice =)

and i wanted to go out on tuesday. but i got sick on monday. and i wanted to go to a farmer’s market on saturday – but i don’t think i will be well enough then.

i’ll just have to stay home all week then.

i just want to get well soon soon soon and the most important of all. that fish do not fall sick. ever.

Being sick makes me feel cold. and i’m sleeping with a heater. when the weather is perfectly cool. what a waste of good weather. i’ve been grabbing onto all the blankets i can find.. haha

ok. enough of sick talk.

i still have 2 more restaurants i haven shared pics with you guys yet. will be doing that. as soon as my nose starts working again!

Sleep tight!

WOW Bulgogi, Kensington

A few few days ago, we wanted to eat Kaki Lima – but it was closed.

so we decided to head on down the road to a relatively new Korean restaurant WOW Bulgogi.

 
They use traditional Korean utensils which is not a problem. until i realise that the chopsticks are flat. they are not round. and i had a big problem with that. i found it extremely difficult to use. hahaha.

And that’s the bbq on our table.

This i like. their cups used when they serve you water are kept in a sterilizer. Very good.

Me and hui tried a can of this sparkling white grape soda. Nothing special but cheap $2.

Can you see it? The walls are faked! They are merely wall paper! hahaha..

Green Salad which came with something. Their salad dressing was very delicious.

Oh by the way. don’t be alarmed, we ate a lot that day.

some of the side dishes..

 
My beef bulgogi. I don’t love love it. i don’t hate it. but i wouldn’t order again. simply because – that’s way to much meat for me.

Shi Hui’s sujebi i think. She didn’t complain so i guess it wasn’t too bad.

 
Fish’s bibimbap. He likes it. He says it’s good and moist. and he will definitely eat it again!

 
Japchae! I love Japchae. The one is isn’t the best best. so it’s not too bad. so this will be what i order when i come here next time.

Kimchi Pancake. Not a big fan. Preferred Seoul Ria’s Seafood pancake to this. Although the presentation is beautiful.

 
We had slices of pork belly to bbq. we sniped them into bite sized pieces and they were good. as pork belly should be.

 
and we had beef tenderloin as well. The thing with beef is, you must really look after it and make sure it doesn’t overcook.

That’s all that we ate. it was a very filling dinner. i would be back again. but we now know what is good and what we would and would not order again. so it will be way lesser next time!

Kaki Lima Restaurant, Kensington

This is a new restaurant that opened up around March this year i think. and it’s delicious!

Before that, there’s a restaurant called Abang Sam that opened further down the road – which we dined frequently – the problem is, the food there is never consistent. It’s highly dependent on the chef. It’s never bad, but sometimes the food is heavier in sauce, or spicier, or more fragrant etc..

but but but.

kaki lima is great!

 
It has a very nice simple elegant feel to the place.

That’s the menu. Good stuff.

Our first dish that came in Pandan Chicken. The chicken is marinated with herbs and steamed in pandan leaves. The flavour of the pandan leaves is totally sucked into the chicken and it is delicious.

Fish got Mamak Fried Noodles. It’s not a very big portion but it tastes very good. and there’s no beansprouts. Fish liked it a lot and i think i shall order this next time too!

I ordered their Nasi Lemak Special. It comes with either Beef Rendang, Chicken Curry or Fried Chicken. I chose the Beef – it was bad, but it wasn’t great. I would definitely choose their chicken curry next time – cause i’ve tried that before. and their curries are great great great!

Their fish curry with eggplant is AMAZING! we didn’t have it today – but we’ve tried it twice and we love it. They use fish fillets which is hard to find in Singapore, which usually uses fish heads instead.

Chicken Satay! Their satay is better than Abang Sam’s one. The flavour is similar but here they cook it better. Abang Sam has a tendency to be overcooked and uncooked at the same time. Cause sometimes the meat still looks quite pink but the other is very charred.

and the satay sauce served here is way nicer and their satay rice is hot. It’s kinda weird in Abanng Sam where the satay rice they serve it cold to you. and not room temperature. like it was taken out of the fridge not long ago. haha

And fish still wanted a roti canai. Basically just 2 slices of plain prata and a bowl of chicken curry.

We’ve already established that their curries are delicious, so no problems there. the prata is quite nice. It’s thick and fluffy and quite good. I hate to say this, but way better than Abang Sam too.

And to end it all – a nice cold bowl of Cendol. Nothing i love more than coconut milk, coconut sugar and ice.

They also don’t use red beans but instead use kidney beans which are salty and not sweet. and i actually quite like this – i do love sweet red beans too. but this is interesting.

 
and they have this cute little clock on the wall! Very cute!

Herb Roast Chicken!

I’ve been contemplating this. for a while.

I want to try to roast a whole chicken. but i have like a mini fear of bones. which is also why i don’t eat chicken with bones – i can’t see myself chewing on the bone to get the meat – it just ewws me.

But… i saw The Pioneer Women’s Herb Roasted Whole Chicken and i really wanted to try to try it out for myself.

and so. i bought a Lilydale Free Range whole chicken one day. Chucked it in the freezer and decided it was time.

Ta-da! My first ever roasted chicken.

I washed and massaged the chicken.. haha. not really, but i was quite rough with it, so i supposed that’s a massage.

I pretty much followed her recipe.

Made my herb mix with sage, rosemary and thyme. Together with salt, pepper and a mixture of butter and olive oil.

After washing the chicken, give is a good wipe down to dry the chicken. I dried it and left it on the counter to dry a little – this is important to ensure you get nice skin.

That’s my chicken after countless washing – in and outside the cavity. I also sniped off the butt – or i think it is the butt. It doesn’t look like a part that i’ve ever seen and it was quite disgusting looking actually – so 2 snips of the scissors and into the bin.

Just before going into a very hot oven. I followed her instructions of 230 degrees. but when i checked the oven.. it was not burning but it was smoking like crazy. and we have a sensitive smoke alarm, so i let the smoke escape slowly and reduced to temperature to 200 degrees instead.

Oh – and see the butt. I stuffed 3 cloves of garlic, half an onion and half a lemon.

 
Hehe.. see the butt.. the lemon is going to pop out soon!

I don’t touch bones remember – so our roasted chicken is always expertly shredded by Fish. He shreds the chicken flesh and i keep the carcass to make chicken stock for another day.

The onions are what we' stuffed in the cavity.

So.. what did we do to the leftovers?

I made a simple chicken mayo and mashed up the garlic which was stuffed into the cavity into the chicken mayo.

Toasted some plain butter croissants, sniped them into half and stuffed the mayo in.

Lunch for Monday!

The chicken was not the most moist – but it had a good subtle infusion of herbs and the flavour can definitely be tasted in the meat of the chicken. 

So, final verdict:

It’s great to eat. It’s simple to cook. Not that difficult to clean the chicken.

So So So… i think i might make this again – but i will keep looking for new recipes to try!

Chicken!