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新年快乐

2012-01-25T16:08:00.001+08:00

祝大家

身体健康，万事如意，龙年行大运！

Spaghetti with onion and zucchini

2011-12-05T22:01:00.018+08:00

Yes, I hear you... "Zucchini again?"

As I've mentioned before, I would usually cook dishes with repeated ingredients one after another coz I bought too many, or because they were cheaper when bought in sets of 2 or more. But this round, it was not as 'stressful' since I was only cooking for the husband and myself. ;)

Linguine with zucchini and onions (adapted from "Thirty Minute Pasta by Giuliano Hazan")

Serves 4

Ingredients :

1 medium to large sweet yellow onion

4 tablespoons butter

Salt

1 ¼ pounds zucchini

Freshly ground black pepper

1 pound linguine

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions :

1. Fill a pot for the pasta with about 6 quarts of water, place over high heat and bring to a boil.

2. Peel the onions and very thinly slice them crosswise. Put the butter in a 12-inch skillet, add the sliced onions, and place over medium-high heat. Season lightly with salt and saute until the onions begin to turn a rich, golden colour, 6 to 8 minutes.

3. While the onions are sauteing, wash the zucchini, cut off the ends, and slice into half moons about ¼ inch thick.

4. When the onions are ready, add the zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini are quite tender and have started lightly browning, 12 to 15 minutes.

5. After the zucchini have cooked about 10 minutes, add about 2 tablespoons salt to the boiling pasta water, add the linguine, and stir until all the strands are submerged. Cook until al dente.

6. When the pasta is done, drain well, toss with the sauce and the Parmigiano-Reggiano, and serve at once.

Spaghetti with sausage and zucchini

2011-11-27T09:21:00.022+08:00

After dunno-how-many months, the cooking finally started again. Actually the husband was the one who "pushed" me to start cooking coz he had been harping on how long it has been since he last had home-cooked pasta. *Thanks for the 'vote' of confidence, dear!* ;p

Since it would be a meal for 6, I chose something simple and easy to cook.

Spaghetti with sausage and zucchini (adapted from "Thirty Minute Pasta by Giuliano Hazan)
Serves 4

Ingredients :

½ medium yellow onion

3 tablespoons butter

8 ounces plain pork sausages

12 ounces zucchini

Salt

1 pound fresh tomatoes

1 pound fusilli (shells are also good)

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions :

1. Fill a pot for the pasta with about 6 quarts of water, place over high heat and bring to a boil.

2. Peel and finely chop the onion. Put the butter in a 12-inch skillet, add the chopped onion, and place over medium-high heat. Saute until the onion just begins to turn a rich, golden colour, about 5 minutes.

3. While the onion is sauteing, remove the casing from the sausage and break it up into pieces. When the onion is ready, add the sausage to the pan. Break the sausage up into small pieces with a wooden spoon and cook, stirring often, until the sausage is slightly browned, about 2 to 3 minutes.

4. While the sausage is cooking, wash the zucchini. Remove the ends, cut into quarters lengthwise, and then cut across into ½-inch chunks. When the sausage has lightly browned, add the zucchini. Season lightly with salt and cook until the zucchini begins to brown and is mostly tender, 6 to 8 minutes.

5. While the zucchini is cooking, peel the tomatoes and coarsely chop them. When the zucchini is ready, add the tomatoes and season lightly with salt, and cook until most of the liquid the tomatoes release has evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes.

6. When the tomatoes are halfway done, add about 2 tablespoons salt to the boiling pasta water, add the fusilli, and stir well. Cook until al dente.

7. When the pasta is done, drain well, toss with the sauce and the grated cheese, and serve at once.

Auntie Tips (32)

2011-11-01T21:33:00.000+08:00

Tip 1:
To retain the elasticity of socks, tie a rubber band around them before putting in the washing machine.

Tip 2:
For undiluted iced lemon tea, make your ice cubes with tea instead of water.

Tip 3:
To keep your stove sparkling, clean it with crumpled newspaper dabbed in water and detergent, then wipe down with damp newspaper.

Tip 4:
Dry glassware with muslin cotton nappies to leave free of water stains.

Tip 5:
Use hot water in an aromatherapy burner for the fragrance to be released faster.

From : Simply Her - Jun 2008

Auntie Tips (31)

2011-09-25T20:28:00.000+08:00

Tip 1:
To remove the odour from raw food, rub a few coffee beans on your hands - this releases their oils and absorbs the smell.

Tip 2:
To treat oil stains on garments, moisten and sprinkle talcum powder or plain flour on them. Leave for 15 minutes, then wash with soap and warm water.

Tip 3:
To keep cakes moist for longer, store them in a box with half an apple in it.

Tip 4:
To get your nails whiter, scrub with whitening toothpaste or soak in water with lemon juice.

Tip 5:
When cooking hard-boiled eggs, add a pinch of salt to the water - this makes it easier to peel off the shell.

Tip 6:
Add some vinegar to the water you use to mop your ceramic floor to keep it shiny.

From : Simply Her - May 2008

Hong Kong Day 4 (31 Aug 2011)

2011-09-17T21:20:00.000+08:00

So after finding out where Sweet Dynasty was, we decided to go back for breakfast since we didn't have the appetite for its dim sum yesterday.

Since this was our last day in Hong Kong, there was nothing much on the agenda and we took our time to eat.

And since there was still some time left after breakfast before we had to return to the hotel to pack up, I managed to drag the husband for a walk (under the very hot late morning sun) at Avenue of Stars. Because...

And I just realised that the metal plate on the barrier was kind-of "strategically placed"...

Hong Kong Day 3 (30 Aug 2011)

2011-09-17T20:53:00.010+08:00

"I forgot when was the first time we met. But I know from the moment I laid eyes on you, the attraction was instant. There was no turning back from then on."

Isn't he the cutest and silliest looking thing ever? Haha. Meet McDull.

To be honest, one of the reason I wanted to go to Hong Kong at this time is because McDull was in Madame Tussards! Look at the Peak Tram ticket.

Before that, we had a delicious late breakfast at Mak's Noodles, a small restaurant that was Michelin recommended. We both agreed that this was much better than the one we had the previous night at the more high-class restaurant.

As for Madame Tussards, compared to the time we were here about 3 years ago, there were some new additions...

... and of course, not forgetting my favourite... hehe...

Before we left the peak, we managed to have sort of a tea break at one of the restaurants there. The husband had the fried pork bun, and I had the noodles with luncheon meat and egg. Nothing spectacular about those... and I forgot where I put the photos of them.

Oh, and look this picture. Can you see that this was taken from a wall in the peak's shopping gallery? ;p

Ok, now back to food. Maybe it was due to the disappointment of the carrot cakes we had the previous night, the husband suggested we go look for Sweet Dynasty. I didn't take note of the address prior to the trip and we had to walk around the whole of Tsim Sha Tsui to look for it, based on our memories few years ago.

I forgot how long we were walking, coming out from almost all of the exits from the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station. I remembered it was opposite this row of branded boutiques but forgot the name of the building. (now I know it's Harbour City) So imagine our delight when the familiar sight finally appeared in front of us!

Ah... yummy dessert as reward...

Hong Kong Day 2 (29 Aug 2011)

2011-09-17T15:33:00.000+08:00

As we didn't managed to get to see the Giant Buddha during our previous trips, I made this a must this time. And I was praying hard for good weather coz when my sister went at end July, the cable car was closed due to strong winds.

Before that, we enjoyed some very smooth and delicious congee at a restaurant near our hotel.

Lucky for us, the weather was good that day. Too good in fact, that it was extremely hot and humid during the long wait for the purchase of the cable car tickets, and the long walk to the Giant Buddha, and not the mention the 280+ steps of stairs up to see it.

We took the new crystal cabin, whereby the bottom was glass and could see through all the way. It wasn't really that scary until I tried to sit down on the glass to take a picture.

Martial arts display by Shaolin Temple

On our way back on the crystal cable car, we saw something very interesting. See those white specks? They were people milling around the sea at low tide, with a sytrofoam box tied to their bodies. We guessed they were catching some sort of sea food during the low tide.

And guess where we had our lunch...

There was something very special about their noodles (米线). It was kind of like the laksa noodles we had here, but more flavourful and cooked totally al dente.

After shopping around Citygates outlets (where there was not a lot to buy, much to my disappointment), we decided to leave the area and go hunt for food. Again, I referred to the recommendations from the Hong Kong tourism website, and decided to go to a restaurant for some highly recommended wonton noodles.

The noodles was kind of normal, and disappointing for us, coz we expected much more at a restaurant. The chee cheong fun and the carrot cakes were equally disappointing. And no shopping done was disappointing too...

Oh, and that reminds me... Now that we had gone to see the Giant Buddha, we had basically covered most of the main attractions in Hong Kong. What other excuses could I use to get us another trip to Hong Kong again??!

Hong Kong Day 1 (28 Aug 2011)

2011-09-15T11:05:00.000+08:00

Our flight got slightly delayed for take-off so we arrived at HK airport about almost an hour later than the scheduled time. Once we cleared the very very long custom queue, we bought an Octopus card (with Airport Express services) and was on our way to the hotel.

The Airport Express offers a very comfortable and convenient ride

When we reached Kowloon MTR station for the transfer to the shuttle bus, the bus was just about to leave. How lucky for us! Or else we would have to wait for another 12-15 minutes for the next shuttle bus.

During the drive to our hotel, we felt like we were on the F1 track, except that we were in a shuttle bus, and there were other vehicles around for the bus to weave in and out.

Our hotel room

View from the hotel window

Late tea break @ 4 pm

Lok Yuen Beef Balls

After a walk around Yau Ma Tei area to help the husband's friend look for a shop, we made our way back to Temple Street near our hotel. After walking through half of the street, we decided we were hungry and stopped at a random wonton noodle stall for dinner.

Dinner @ 7 pm

Wonton noodles + iced milk tea

Auntie Tips (30)

2011-08-01T11:47:00.000+08:00

Tip 1:
Remove coloured stains from white or silver surfaces by applying toothpaste, then rubbing with a wet cloth.

Tip 2:
To give hair a natural shine, use warm unsweetened tea as a final rinse after shampooing.

Tip 3:
Place a cup of warm milk in your shoe rack for an hour to get rid of musty odours.

Tip 4:
Use old toothbrushes to scrub bathroom corners or to remove stubborn dirt between tiles.

Tip 5:
To clean the inside of a water bottle, put two to three tablespoons of salt in it, add a little water and shake vigorously.

Tip 6:
To remove sticky remnants from your car windows, apply hot oil, leave it for a while, then clean with soap and water.

Tip 7:
To whiten yellowed clothes, soak overnight in 12 parts warm water and 1 part vinegar, and wash in the morning.

Tip 8:
If you have cheese bits stuck in the grater, clean it by grating a piece of bread.

From : Simply Her - Apr 2008

The meeting room

2011-07-26T21:02:00.000+08:00

To the cinema : Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (Part 2)

2011-07-17T21:13:00.000+08:00

After almost a year's wait, the concluding episode was finally here. As I was quite curious about some issues after watching part 1, I ended up asking questions to my youngest sister who had already finished reading the book. So, as the movie went on, it was not really totally unexpected.

I thought the start to the middle part were good. It started off with action, and things moved fast and furious from then on. And as with the first part, the ending was a little flat. I actually expected more action in the final battle between Harry Potter and Voldemort. Or maybe this was the only way that wizards could fight, just by pointing their wands at each other and see whose "lightning" was more powerful. Therefore, there was something lacking in the "fight" scenes.

But all in all, was not such a bad end to everything. However, I thought that "19 years later" portion could be excluded... it was kind of weird, and my sister said it was also written in the book. She thought it was shown as a kind of "closure" for the whole saga.

And after watching all the Harry Potter episodes, my favourites are The Chamber of Secrets and The Goblet of Fire.

To the cinema : Transformers : Dark of the Moon

2011-07-02T16:05:00.000+08:00

Ok, so I lied. I know I had said before I don't think I will be watching Transformers 3, if there was any. And I really regret I didn't keep my own promise. In the end, I subjected myself to 2.5 hours of complete boredom.

Almost an hour, I think, was spent on story-telling, conspiracy theory of the real reason for the launch of Apollo 13 to the Moon, which I personally thought was a little too long. There were so many parts that could be cut away to reduce the "drag".

I was so relieved when the actions started *finally*, and there was actually a little twist to the story in the middle. But then, once the fighting started, it didn't seemed like it would end. Metal clashing against metal, a super building that took forever to collapse, soldiers shouting endlessly at one another, then everything started all over again.

The only thing that I thought was slightly positive from the movie was that Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was actually quite good at acting. Not bad for a Victoria angel.

Sailing on the Royal Carribean

2011-06-11T11:34:00.000+08:00

16th May 2011 was the day that was significant to both the husband and myself. It was the day the both of us went on our very first cruise trip. ;p

I couldn't remember when was the last time our whole family travelled together, much less with the extended family. Coz this time, my uncle and aunties went along, and all of us had a wonderful time together. It was really fun to travel with the family... doesn't matter if the trip is long or short. It was good enough that we all spent time together to mingle and bond.

The thing about going on a cruise is that we didn't have to worry about timings. There was no itinerary to follow, no need to rush anywhere, and the best thing was, to be able to sleep in for as long as you like. And there was no worry about the lack of food too. If you missed the time for one meal, there was another waiting for you at another place.

To the cinema : Kungfu Panda 2

2011-06-05T11:41:00.036+08:00

So, without watching any movies for the past 6 months, we managed to catch 2 movies in a row for 2 Fridays.

I guess the main focus of this episode was Po's past, and the revelation that he was adopted (surprise!). Compared to the previous episode, this focused more on the importance of relationships - friendship and kinship. There were touching moments that reminded the audience the importance of family, and parents' love for their children. This episode showed the soft side of Tigress as well.

Other than those, Po was still as fat (if not fatter) as before, and cluelessly adorable. Always a fun and entertaining movie for everyone. :)

To the cinema : Pirates of the Carribean - On Stranger Tides

2011-05-28T11:40:00.070+08:00

Movie buffs would be horrified to know that this was our first movie in 2011. It's not like we don't like to go to the movies, I just feel that there isn't any need to go watch a movie because it's new, or just for the sake of meeting the target of going to the cinema once a week. And not to mention the high ticket price, since we can only make time mostly on Friday evenings. So we, or rather me, am quite selective about what movies to watch at the cinemas.

This was a completely new episode, new story line. No more Kiera Knightly or Orlando Bloom (insert sad face here). But there was still the quirky Jack Sparrow. However, I felt that even the captain couldn't create much excitement, except maybe for the part when I was anticipating for the mermaids' appearance. Couldn't help but felt that this episode wasn't as interesting and exciting as the previous ones with Davy Jones (Dead Man's Chest and At World's End) in them.

Auntie Tips (29)

2011-05-16T11:39:00.000+08:00

Tip 1:
To tie a parcel securely, dip the string in hot water - the string will shrink and tighten when it dries.

Tip 2:
Recycle charcoal ashes from your barbecue by using them to scrub metal cooking pots - it removes charred stains and restores shine.

Tip 3:
To get electrical switch plates white and shiny again, wipe with a cotton pad and some nail polish remover.

Tip 4:
Remove ballpoint pen marks from clothing or handbags by rubbing with 70% isopropyl alcohol (found at pharmacies). Test on an inconspicuous area first.

Tip 5:
Separate drinking glasses that are stuck together by filling the inner one with cold water and dipping the outer one in hot water.

Tip 6:
To keep chillies from growing mouldy, pluck off the stems then wrap in newspaper and refrigerate.

Tip 7:
Clean patent leather with a slice of white bread. It wipes off smudge marks and brings back the shine.

Tip 8:
Remove rust from tools by rubbing with a paste of salt and lemon juice.

From : Simply Her - Mar 2008

And so there goes another year...

2011-05-04T20:54:00.081+08:00

To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.

- Bernard Baruch

It's almost impossible to try to "forget" your own birthday these days. With Facebook, all your friends will know it's your birthday, and though it's heart warming to receive the well wishes, they are also reminders that age is catching up.

But so far, I'm still not dreading the arrival of my birthday, so I guess it isn't that bad yet. ;p

Who's following?

2011-04-24T14:35:00.020+08:00

It's been more than 4 months since I updated this blog. Actually, it's not that my life was that boring these few months. I'm just being L.A.Z.Y. I admit it. ;p

So, I was pleasantly surprised when my sister pointed out that I haven't done any blogging for some time. I didn't think I had many readers, much less a follower!! Heh.

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

2011-01-03T13:48:00.000+08:00

Yes, yes... I know. I haven't been 'faithfully' updating this blog for ages. And I even missed the yearly "trend" of doing a write-up at the end of the year. I'm sorely tempted to blame it on the new job, but that's just the lazy side of me trying to find excuses.

So, I've been thinking about significant thing(s) happening in 2010, and there was only one : me getting a new job.

Or make it 2 significant things : me getting a new job, and gaining some new friends. :)

And, those were about the more exciting happenings in 2010 for me. Yup... plain, old boring me. Or maybe that was just the beginning of things to come. I can't help but keep feeling that something major is about to happen in 2011. Today is just the first workday of 2011, and I'm already feeling restless...

Auntie Tips (28)

2010-12-22T11:31:00.000+08:00

Tip 1:
Stretch a rubber band around the rim of a covered container to prevent ants from getting in.

Tip 2:
To prevent dripping fat from flaring up the flames when barbecuing meat, cover the hot charcoal with a layer of fresh lettuce leaves.

Tip 3:
To salvage an overbaked cake, pour 1/4 cup of milk evenly over the cake while it is still hot. Once the milk has been absorbed, turn the cake pan over and let it cool.

Tip 4:
To get your fish really crispy, immerse it in milk before dipping into flour.

Tip 5:
When sewing on buttons, use two separate threads for each side of a four-hole button. It is unlikely that both threads will break at the same time, so you won't lose your button.

Tip 6:
Don't discard old contact lens cases. Use them to store a dab of facial wash and moisturiser for those overnight trips.

Tip 7:
To prevent worms or weevils from infesting your rice, place a few drops of cooking oil in the rice bin and shake it well or add a few dried red chillies.

Tip 8:
To remove candle wax from a carpet, fill a plastic bag with ice cubes and place it on top of the wax for a few minutes. Then gently lift off the brittle wax with a blunt knife.

From : Simply Her - Feb 2008

Auntie Tips (27)

2010-12-01T11:21:00.000+08:00

Tip 1:
If you have an ant problem in your home, find out where the ants are entering from. Sprinkle cinnamon powder or ground black or white pepper there.

Tip 2:
To keep your room free of mosquitoes, cut a lemon in half and press whole cloves into the skin. Lay the lemon, cut side down, on a plate and place in the room - it also helps scent the air.

Tip 3:
Polish silver accessories with Hoi Tong white pressed powder (from Chinese medical halls). Put some on a cotton pad and rub silver till it shines.

Tip 4:
If your chopping board is discoloured, rub some salt on it and leave for half an hour. Then wash with a scouring pad.

Tip 5:
To get rid of the burnt taste from burnt rice, place a slice of white bread on top of the rice while it's hot. Replace the lid and wait a few minutes, then remove the bread.

Tip 6:
Put expired tea bags to good use - place them in shoes and wardrobes for a pleasant fragrance.

Tip 7:
Cut cotton buds in half and pack several in a small zip-lock bag (those holding medication are ideal). They are handy as eyeshadow or concealer applicators, or to remove excess makeup when you're on-the-go.

From : Simply Her - Jan 2008

To the cinema : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1)

2010-11-20T15:13:00.002+08:00

After the quite diasppointing "Half-Blood Prince" in my opinion, I was expecting more from the "Deathly Hallows". No doubt it was only part 1 of 2 (which I think is an attempt to make more money from us before the whole Harry Potter saga ends), I still had quite high expectations for it. It was also partly due to the feedback from the Harry Potter fan (my sister) that it was good.

But once again, it kind of disappointed me. It started off quite exciting, and I was expecting the same kind of action and energy to continue throughout the show. However, it didn't really worked out for me. To be honest, I could only feel the evil and sinister part of the dark lord getting more powerful. I didn't feel Harry Potter or his friends getting more confident or powerful to defeating him.

And as my friend had so rightly pointed out, the flow of the story was not that fantastic either. Like there was about 5-10 minutes of excitement and action, then followed by a whole 30 minutes of nothing, with no surprises or unexpected happenings. It was getting kind of predictable as the 2 hours and 10 minutes dragged on.

In my opinion, if they were to cut down on those long and draggy parts, there might not be a need to have "part 1" and "part 2" for this final episode. So, I'm off to finding the book and finish reading the "part 2" and then decide if I want to spend on catching the movie when it comes out 6 months later.

Universal Studios Singapore

2010-11-05T13:42:00.010+08:00

A good friend of ours decided to invite us along to Universal Studios Singapore as her company was having a family day there and the weekend tickets are going at the price of a weekday ticket.

As expected with new tourist attraction, it was quite crowded and queues for the popular rides were long. But we did managed to take the rides recommended. I couldn't remember when was the last time I took an amusement park ride. I got to admit that my legs did feel kind of shaky after the "Revenge of the Mummy" ride, which we concluded was the most fun of all.

The "Rapids Adventure" ride in Jurassic Park, the one where everybody will get wet, was quite disappointing. We spent almost an hour queuing for it, only to experience a few seconds of thrill.

However, some of the featured shows were quite good, like the Shrek 4D movie and the Steven Spielberg special effects theatre. And then there were the random performances on the streets, and the occassional meeting of movie characters, like Shrek and Fiona, Frankenstien, Po, etc. Even though we all knew that some were only costumes with people in it, something about these characters that bring out the child in us. I wouldn't mind spending a whole day there just to wait for these characters to come out and take photos with them. ;p

Krabi (22nd Oct - 25th Oct)

2010-10-30T12:36:00.001+08:00

After strong recommendations from my sister-in-law, we finally managed to have a short getaway to Krabi (Thailand). It has been a while since the husband and I went on a holiday and I was really looking forward to it.

It was like a little town that just depends on tourism for a living. There are no famous local produce, or handicrafts or any such things that is a must-buy for tourists. Instead, tourism in Krabi depends totally on all the tiny islands/beaches surrounding the area. As the pictures show, the view is spectacular and the water is always crystal clear. We spent 2 full days island and beach hopping, and the husband also had a blast of the time snorkling on both days.

We went on a long-tail boat for the first day and it was quite an experience. As it cannot get too close to shore, it was a challenge getting in and out of it. The waves were constantly shifting the boat's position, and depending on luck, the water could just reach your calves, or all the way up to your thigh when you attempt to get out and find a spot where your feet could touch solid bottom.

The second day was spend travelling on a speed boat. Though the time taken for travel with a speed boat was half the time of a long-tail boat, it didn't make the moving up and down of the boat any easier. But at least we got to try the two different modes of travelling on water.

The husband is already thinking which island to go snorkling and relax next. Honestly, it was really fun and enjoyable to have a short trip once in a while, where you are not bound by the schedules of itinerary.

Auntie Tips (26)

2010-10-10T11:17:00.000+08:00

Tip 1:
To get rid of stains in your electric kettle or airpot, place lemon slices inside, fill with water and boil.

Tip 2:
To get rid of the stickiness left on your fingers by tape, rub fingertips with salt and rinse.

Tip 3:
Remove tomato sauce stains from plastic containers by rubbing with a damp cloth dipped in baking soda.

Tip 4:
Treat oil stains on clothing right away - sprinkle with baby powder, cornstarch or artificial sweetener to absorb the oil. Rub in liquid detergent to treat remaining spots, then wash in the hottest water suitable for the fabric.

From : Simply Her - Dec 2007

Incident for thought (6)

2010-09-25T00:31:00.000+08:00

It was a typical workday morning, on the MRT to work. There was a couple, maybe in their late 30s, with the wife sitting and the husband standing right beside her. When the train stopped at a station and the passenger besides the wife alighted, the husband moved to take the seat. But at the same time, another auntie came out of nowhere at lightning speed and was going for that seat too. They bumped into each other, and after each giving the other a "how-dare-you-snatch-my-seat" look without a word, the husband sat down, conveniently ignoring the auntie's deadly stare.

I didn't know why this incident bothered me. Maybe it was the way that the guy still took the seat when he knew that the auntie was going for it too. Or maybe it was just the traditional me, still believing in the "gentleman spirit".

Natalie is 1!

2010-09-16T14:41:00.013+08:00

My dear niece is one today. Time really flies... She had "changed" from this ...

... to this...

Cute as she may be at times, she can be one bossy, fussy and demanding little kid too... haha...

In memory of HW

2010-09-12T21:21:00.000+08:00

No love, no friendship, can cross the path of our destiny

without leaving some mark on it forever

~ Francois Mocuriac

Rest in peace, my dear friend. You will always remain, in our hearts, a great friend, a wonderful and loving husband, father and son.

Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta

2010-08-28T14:10:00.000+08:00

This has been one long overdue post. And I apologise for that shadow at the corner of the photo. I think that I was too hungry at that time to care to re-take another proper photo. I could still remember that it was delicious, despite looking a bit sad in this picture.

Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta (recipe from here)

Ingredients :

- 1 lb raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed
- 3 cloves garlic, minced – divided
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon basil, chopped fine (I substituted with dried parsley)
- 4 oz dry linguine
- Grated parmesan

Directions :

1) Place the shrimp in a bowl and add one teaspoon of garlic, the lemon zest and the vegetable oil. Stir and let marinate while the pasta cooks.

2) Cook the pasta according to the package instructions, but cook for one minute less than instructed.

3) During the last three minutes of the pasta cooking time heat the butter in a large skillet until it foams. Add the remaining garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the shrimp with the marinade and cook for 30 seconds, or until the shrimp are just turning pink. Add the basil and stir to combine.

4) Reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid, then drain the pasta and add it directly to the pan – work quickly or your shrimp will over cook. Stir to combine, allowing the shrimp and past to cook the rest of the way, about one minute more. If the sauce does not coat the pasta completely add a bit of the cooking liquid to thin it out.

5) Top with grated parmesan and a spritz of lemon juice. Enjoy.

Auntie Tips (25)

2010-08-10T11:14:00.000+08:00

Tip 1:
Place a stalk of pandan leaf in your wardrobe to get rid of insects and bugs ; it also leaves a pleasant fragrance.

Tip 2:
Place a few pieces of charcoal in the fridge or under the sink to absorb stale odours.

Tip 3:
Keep glass-top furniture sparkly clean with lemon juice ; to remove scratches from a glass surface, rub in some toothpaste.

Tip 4:
Not handy with a hammer but need to put a nail in the wall? Use a fork to hold the nail in place, then hammer away.

From : Simply Her - Nov 2007

2010-07-31T14:03:00.000+08:00

Been quite busy since starting on the new job at the end of June. Can't believe one month passed by so fast! Hadn't had time to blog for the whole of July. And I realised I kind of missed cooking...

Auntie Tips (24)

2010-07-02T11:09:00.000+08:00

Tip 1:
Don't throw out the desiccant sachets from your vitamin bottles - put them in cookie jars to keep biscuits fresh longer

Tip 2:
Use creamy peanut butter to remove the residue left by sticky labels on glass.

Tip 3:
To remove stains on cups or utensils, rub crushed egg shells over the stains, then rinse.

Tip 4:
Place a slice of apple in hardened brown sugar to soften it.

From : Simply Her - Oct 2007

Auntie Tips (23)

2010-06-19T10:23:00.000+08:00

Tip 1:
To prevent superglue from drying up, place it in the fridge and it will be as good as new.

Tip 2:
To maintain the freshness of leftover spaghetti sauce, freeze the sauce in an ice-cube tray. Just defrost what you need each time.

Tip 3:
Frozen packets of ketchup and chilli sauce make up for handy ice packs when your kid gets those bruises or bumps.

Tip 4:
Wrap celery in aluminium foil before refrigerating and it will keep for weeks.

From : Simply Her - Sep 2007

Fruit Yogurt Popsicles

2010-06-14T13:16:00.002+08:00

After lying around in my kitchen cabinet for months, the 8 popsicle moulds were finally being put to work for the very first time. I wasn't really thinking of making this until I saw the boxes of blueberries and strawberries on sale in the supermarket. And it wasn't everyday that we have blueberries here on this sunny island of Singapore. So, I decided to buy 2 packs of them to give this recipe a try, and to freeze the remainders for some other recipes.

One tiny change I made was to just chop up the fruits to tiny bits instead of blending them, so that I can still munch on the frozen bits of fruits while enjoying the smoothness of the yogurt.

Fruit Yogurt Popsicles (recipe from here)

Ingredients :

- 1 cup plain yogurt

- 1 cup fresh fruit or frozen fruit, your choice of blueberries, strawberries, cherries, etc

- 2 tablespoons honey

- 4 wooden popsicle sticks or plastic spoons

- 4 paper cups, 5 ounce size

- aluminum foil

Directions :

1) Place the yogurt, fruit (slightly thawed if using frozen) and honey in a blender. Blend to desired consistency (some kids like the fruit chunky and others like it smooth).

2) Pour into paper cups, filling them 3/4 full.

3)Cover the cups with foil. Make slits in the center of the foil covers and insert the popsicle sticks.

4) Put in the freezer for about 5 hours or until frozen solid.

5) When ready, peel off the paper cup and eat.

Note : I doubled the recipe and managed to fill about a little less than 7 popsicle moulds.

Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream

2010-06-09T12:26:00.059+08:00

I didn't know what came over me to want to give this ice-cream recipe a try. I do not have an ice-cream maker to begin with. But sometimes, there are certain recipes that just caught my attention and I can't stop thinking about them until I gave them a try. And no, I didn't rush out to get an ice-cream maker either. Refer to the note at the end of the post to learn how to make ice-cream without a machine.

To be honest, I didn't think there would be much success on this first attempt. There was a floating layer of fats (I think) after I had melted the chocolate and the cream together. And the final product turned out a bit too hard compared to store-bought. I didn't know if there is any relation to that layer of fats that I decided to omit when doing the final mix. But I was glad that the overall taste was good. So much richer and more chocolate-ty than store-bought.

Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream (recipe from here)

Ingredients :

- 6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
- 1 cup of whole milk
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup of sugar

Directions :

1) Put the chocolate in a 2-quart liquid measuring cup or a large heatproof bowl. Bring 3/4 of the cream to a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let it sit a minute, then, using a rubber spatula, and starting in the center of the mixture, slowly stir the cream into the chocolate in ever-widening concentric circles. When the ganache is smooth, set it aside.

2) Bring the milk and the remaining 3/4 cream to a boil in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan.

3) Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar together until well blended and just slightly thickened. Still whisking, drizzle in about one third of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won't curdle, Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining liquid. Pour the custard back into the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring without stopping, until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon: if you run your finger down the bowl of the spoon, the custard should not run into the track. The custard should reach at least 170 degrees F, but no more than 180 degrees F, on an instant-read thermometer (this took about 8-10 minutes on my stove.) Immediately remove the pan from the heat and slowly and gently stir the custard into the ganache.

Note : If you do not have an ice-cream maker, refer to this article by David Lebovitz. Thanks to him, everyone can enjoy home-made ice-cream even though you don't have the machine. :)

Yam (Taro) Rice

2010-05-31T13:12:00.001+08:00

To be honest, I didn't have much confidence when starting out on this recipe. Yam (or taro, as known in other parts of the world) is a completely new ingredient for me. But luckily, NTUC is selling vacuumed packs of yam that had already been skinned. So it saves some time and effort on my part to have to deal with the unfamiliar yam.

After cooking this dish, I realised that it was not as complicated as it looks. But I would advise to use a larger rice-cooker if you are planning to cook the amount as stated in the recipe. For me, the cooked rice almost filled the brim of our tiny rice-cooker, and so the top layer was slightly uncooked. So, we stirred around a bit to bring the top layer down to the middle and let it steamed for a few more minutes.

Note : I followed the selected recipe very closely, except for the seasoning part. The recipe below will be my version. If you want to see the original recipe. Click here.

Yam Rice

Ingredients :

- 500g yam/taro (cut into cubes) (Remember to wear disposable gloves when handling yam)
- 3 1/2 cup rice
- 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 2 shallots (finely chopped)
- 2 1/2 tablespoons dried shrimp (soaked in warm water, drained and roughly chopped)
- 250g ground pork or chicken meat (minced)
- 3 3/4 cups water (to be used separately) (use the same cup as the one to measure the rice)
- 5 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked in warm water, drained and cut into thin slices)
- 4 tablespoons cooking oil
- Fried shallot crisps (for garnishing)
- 1 scallion (cut into small rounds, for garnishing)

Seasonings :

- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 3 dashes white pepper powder
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions :

1) Wash and rinse the rice. Set aside to drain.

2) Heat up a wok and add a little oil. Stir-fry the yam pieces for about 3 minutes. Dish out and set aside.

3) In the same wok, add some more cooking oil. Stir-fry the shallots and garlic until aromatic. Add pork (or chicken), mushrooms and dried shrimp and stir-fry until the meat changes color. Use the spatula to break the ground pork or chicken so they form into small lumps. Add 2 cups of water into the wok and follow by the yam pieces. Add all seasonings and bring it to boil. Add rice into the wok and do a few quick stirs.

4) Transfer everything into the rice cooker, adding the remaining 1 3/4 cups of water, and then cook it like you are cooking steamed rice.

5) When the rice is cooked, use the rice scoop to stir the yam rice and loosen it up. Serve immediately with some fried shallot crisps and chopped scallions.

Auntie Tips (22)

2010-05-21T10:57:00.000+08:00

Tip 1 :
Worried about candles dripping hot wax on the birthday cake you have baked? Simply use marshmallows to secure the candles firmly. Not only will they hold the candles straight and steady, marshmallows will also make your cake looks quite pretty.

Tip 2 :
You've bought a pretty bouquet of flowers, but find that their stems are too short for your long-necked vase? Try and insert the stem ends into drinking straws. Then simply cut the straws according to the length you desire.

Tip 3 :
Don't throw away your children's old baby booties or socks. Instead, slip them on the legs of the table and chairs. The socks will protect both your furniture and floor. And booties will add a 'cute' touch, especially in a child's room.

Tip 4 :
To remove stains on your fabric car upholstery, simply squirt a palm-sized of shaving cream on it. Rub thoroughly with a damp cloth and then dab dry with a sponge.

From : Women's Weekly - Dec 2008

Earl Grey Tea Sorbet

2010-05-10T11:55:00.001+08:00

I can't remember when was the last time I made desserts. So when my mother sms-ed me to say that we will be celebrating Mother's Day at my grandma's place, and asked me to either make or buy some desserts, I knew it was time. And since the weather had been scorching these days, I thought sorbet would be the perfect thing to make. And not to mention, simple too. :)

I got the recipe from a video here.

Earl Grey Tea Sorbet

Ingredients :

- 3 3/4 cups water
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 6 Earl Grey teabags
- juice of 1 lemon

Directions :

1) Put the water and sugar together in a pot and bring it to a rolling boil. (Try to maintain a low and consistent heat, and ensure all sugar has melted but at the same time not burnt)

2) Add the 6 teabags into the syrup and take it off the heat.

3) Let the teabags rest in the syrup for about 30 minutes before removing them.

4) If the mixture is not completely cooled at this time, stick the pot into the fridge and let it cool.

5) Once it has cooled down, add in the juice of 1 lemon. If you have an ice-cream maker, just pour the mixture in it and leave it to do the rest of the work.

If you do not have an ice-cream maker :

- Put a glass dish into your freezer to cool it. When you are done with the final mixture, take out the glass dish from the freezer and put the mixture into it. Cover it with cling wrap and pop it back into the freezer.

- After 30 minutes or so, check the mixture. If the sides of the dish is starting to freeze, use a fork to break down the pieces and put it back into the freezer again.

- Do this after every 30 minutes until you get the consistency you want. I've read that the best is to do it for 8 hours or so, if you really want a smooth professional-like consistency.

Note : I've got feedback about the final product being too sweet. So if you do not have a very sweet tooth, you might consider reducing the amount of sugar a little.

Braised Chicken with Shallots

2010-05-09T11:45:00.000+08:00

Finally, we were rid of the flu and cough bug. So, it was back to cooking chicken for our meals. Looking back at previous meals, I thought it would be good to cook a Chinese dish this weekend. And of course, a simple and quick one at that.

Braised Chicken with Shallots (recipe from here)

Ingredients :

- 4 chicken thighs & drumsticks, chopped
- 10 shallots, washed & peeled
- 2 nos garlic, sliced
- 5 nos ginger, sliced
- 1 tsp black soy sauce

Marinate:
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp light soya sauce
- 4 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- pepper to taste

Directions :

1. Marinade chicken with the marinate. Set in the fridge for 3 hours or longer.

2. Heat up olive, saute shallots, garlic and ginger till fragrant.

3. Add chicken, stir fry the chicken till tender and fragrant.

4. Add water - the water should cover the chicken.

5. Cover the wok lid. Simmer under low fire for about 10-15mins or till gravy thicken. (Note : The gravy didn't seemed to be thickening at this point, so I added in some cornstarch mixed with water)

6. Add dash of salt.

7. Add black soy sauce, stir well & dish up. Serve hot.

Salmon and Broccoli Spaghetti

2010-05-06T13:40:00.001+08:00

I made this about 2 weeks ago, when the husband and I were both attacked by the flu bug. The husband was worse off than I was, he got the cough as well. So, when he mentioned he wanted to eat at home for dinner, I had to think of something that was suitable for the sick. And according to my mother and Chinese physician, it is not good to take chicken when you are having a cough, though there are no real scientific evidence, but I had some experience in that, so I'd rather avoid it till we're ok.

So, off I went to the Internet (what would I do without it??!) to search for a quick and simple dinner. And I came across one with minimal ingredients, and decided to tweak it by adding some broccoli for a more balanced meal.

Salmon and Broccoli Spaghetti (recipe adapted from here)
2 servings

Ingredients :

- 1 steak salmon
- 200ml whipping cream
- spaghetti for 2
- broccoli florets
- 1 teaspoon tomato puree
- a little butter for frying
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (I omitted this)

Directions :

1) Season the salmon with some salt and black pepper. Then put it into the oven at 220 degrees Celsius for about 10-15 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of the salmon.

2)While the salmon is baking, boil the water and cook the spaghetti. When the water boils, what I did was to scoop some out to blanch the broccoli separately. Leave the broccoli in the water for about 3-5 minutes, then drain and set them aside.

3) When the salmon is cooked, it should be light pink and be able to flake apart easily when prodded with a fork. Break the salmon in the desired size and set aside.

4) When the pasta is within a few minutes of being done, heat up a pan and melt the butter over low heat. Add in the whipping cream, cayenne pepper (if using), tomato puree, salmon, broccoli, and salt and pepper to taste.

5) Gently heat this for a few minutes until hot (but NOT boiling), then add in the spaghetti, mixing it well to coat with the sauce. Serve immediately.

To the cinema : Iron Man 2

2010-05-05T11:00:00.002+08:00

Yup, there is something about the movies these days with the word "man" in them. Haha. And after watching 2 movies in 2 days, I think it will be quite a while before we go for another one.

Anyway, back to Iron Man 2. Honestly, I'm not as impressed as I was with the first one. But at least, in my opinion, it was not as bad as some other sequels had been. At least it was entertaining, not the "wow" kind, but the "oh ok" kind. And thinking back to the movie, there was actually not much of a storyline. I thought it was just to show off all the high-tech technologies and to impress audience with the animations. Other than that, it was like the team just tried to put together a movie just for the sake of a sequel. Even the action parts of the movie were not too exciting, with the bad guy struck down so fast when he was portrayed as such a genius? And what exactly is Scarlett Johansson doing in there? I can see the whole movie going on smoothly even without her. Unless it was like the rumours going around that there will be another movie with her character in it, Captain America and Thor...

Personally, I feel that there is only one climatic moment for Iron Man and Iron Man 2, that is the part where Tony Stark actually admitted that he is the superhero. So, with that already done, I didn't have much expectations for the sequel. I thought the point of being superhero is to be anonymous? Or maybe Iron Man just wants to be different from the other superheroes?

Plus one (I mean, the age...)

2010-05-04T13:05:00.000+08:00

I guess I don't so much mind being old, as I mind being fat and old.

~ Peter Gabriel ~

This is one of the much quieter birthdays I had compared to previous years... since I've been at home for the past few months, looking for another job. I'm not very particular about big birthday celebrations and such. I'll be happy to just spend some time with the family, or husband, or just as a "me, myself and I" day.

Also, as time goes by, (I'm sure some will agree), we would rather not be reminded of our birthdays, coz it means that we are getting older. It's a totally different feeling when you think of yourself being 32 years old, and when someone else reminds you that you are 32. Although the number is the same, it always sounds much older when other people talk about it, compared to just thinking about it in my mind. Or is it just me that feels this way...

To the cinema : Ip Man 2

2010-05-03T23:15:00.002+08:00

I can't remember if there were any sequels to any movies that we looked forward to as much as Ip Man 2. A little more than a year has passed since the first Ip Man movie had came out, and it's always a little worrying that sequels will never be as good as the first.

But after watching it, I personally felt that it was almost as good as the first movie. In the first movie, it was Chinese vs Japanese, and in this sequel, it was Chinese vs British. Since it was a semi-biographical film, the storyline is kind of simple and expected. So nothing much to say about it without revealing the whole movie. But no complaints there coz the fight scenes and Donnie Yen alone makes up for everything! Haha.

Chicken, Leek and Tomato Soup

2010-04-27T21:52:00.000+08:00

This was made a few weeks back and I had forgotten about it until I went through the photos in my phone. No, I didn't use a camera for my photos. Nearly all the photos of the dishes that I cooked were taken by my phone's camera, and thus, the non-professional look and poor lighting. But I do try to make them presentable.

Anyway, I was looking for something light for dinner that day and the husband was feeling abit under the weather, so I thought of soup, and some toasted small buns to go along.

Chicken, Leek and Tomato Soup (recipe from : Quick Short Chicken Recipes)
4 servings

Ingredients :

- 60g butter
- 3 leeks, thinly sliced
- 3 chicken breast fillets
- 3 cups (750ml) chicken stock
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 425g can crushed tomatoes
- 1/4 teaspoon soft brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon chopped basil leaves
- chopped basil, extra, to garnish

Directions :

1) Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, add the leek and cook for 2 minutes without browning.

2) Halve the chicken breast fillets lengthways and thinly slice them. Increase the heat, add the chicken to the saucepan and cook for 3 minutes, or until the chicken is browned.

3) Add the stock, garlic, tomato, sugar and basil. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5-6 minutes, or until the chicken is tender. Season and garnish with extra fresh basil. Serve with crusty bread.

Sausage and Pasta

2010-04-21T11:15:00.000+08:00

As I've mentioned before, it will be expected to see repeated ingredients from a previous dish as I can't vary the amount to be bought to suit to just the two of us. So, here it is again, the last Polish sausage from dinner previously. I adapted this from a real simple recipe, and the difference is that, the original calls for beer, but mine has chicken stock instead. Coz the husband and I are not beer persons. However, I might still give the beer version a try some time.

Sausage and Pasta (adapted from here)

1 serving

Ingredients :

- sphagetti for one

- 1 Polish sausage, sliced

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

- about 1/3 cup of chicken stock

- pepper to taste

- red pepper flakes (optional)

- dried parsley for garnish

Directions :

1) Heat up some olive oil in a pan. Saute the onion for a few seconds. Then add in the garlic and sausage to saute for about 3-4 minutes.

2) Add pepper and red pepper flakes (if using) to taste.

3) Add the chicken stock, cover, and let the liquid reduce to a little less than half on high heat. You can cook the pasta while the sauce is reducing.

(Note : I didn't add any salt because the chicken stock and the sausage provided enough saltiness for me, however, you can always adjust it according to your taste after you add in the chicken stock)

4) Serve the sausage and onion over the pasta. Make sure you get the sauce over everything. Enjoy!

Sausage and Mushroom Sphagetti

2010-04-20T22:47:00.000+08:00

When it comes to cooking, I like to have a bit of time to plan ahead. Time to think of what to cook, time to look through my recipes collection slowly and see which is the one that will catch my attention that day. But once in a while, dinner plans will pop up at the last minute and I just had to come up with something fast. And so, here is my quick and easy sausage and mushroom sphagetti :

Sausage and Mushroom Sphagetti

2 servings

Ingredients :

- sphagetti for two

- 2 Polish sausages, sliced (I bought 3 Polish sausages for $5.50 from Cold Storage)

- 1 pack (~125g) white mushrooms, sliced

- 4 cloves of garlic, minced (coz the husband likes a lot of garlic in his food)

- half a bottle of pasta sauce (from the 397g kind, can adjust according to your preference for the sauciness)

- handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped

- black pepper

- grated Parmesan cheese

Directions :

1) Cook sphagetti according to the package instructions.

2) Meanwhile, heat up some olive oil in pan and stir-fry the sausages till the oil is released. Dish out the sausages and set aside, leaving the oil in the pan.

3) Add in the mushroom and garlic, and fry till the mushroom is almost cooked. Add in the cooked sausages and fry for a few seconds.

4) Add in the pasta sauce and basil, and stir to combine all the ingredients together, until the sauce has been heated up.

5) Turn off the heat and add in the cooked spaghetti to the sauce, or vice versa. Season with black pepper and your desired amount of Parmesan cheese. Serve.

Auntie Tips (21)

2010-04-17T12:30:00.000+08:00

Tip 1 :
Don't throw away clothes with sweat stains just yet. You can get rid of the stains by dissolving three aspirin tablets in a large bowl filled with water, and then soaking the shirt or top in the mixture for one hour. Launder as usual.

Tip 2 :
To clean a thermos, just pour a tablespoon of salt and some ice cubes into the flask. Close and swirl so that the salt and ice cubes lightly scour the bottom and inside of the flask. Rinse thoroughly before use.

Tip 3 :
To remove dirt from your favourite leather bag and make it almost as good as new, just rub the surface with medicated oil.

Tip 4 :
So your fridge becomes sparkling white and smells minty fresh, apply toothpaste on the inside and scrub with a sponge, brush or rag. Wipe with a cloth to dry.

Tip 5 :
It can be irritating to walk and move when your dress is clingingg to you due to static. To solve this, just pin a small safety pin onto the seam of your skirt or dress. The same thing goes for slacks that cling when you wear panty hose.

From : Women's Weekly - Nov 2008

One Pot

2010-04-04T13:24:00.000+08:00

This kind of one pot dish is not only simple to cook, but also allows you the flexibility to add whatever you like into it. There is also less washing up to do, and is one complete meal when served with rice. Do refer to the original recipe for more ideas for ingredients if you are cooking for more than 2 persons.

One Pot (recipe adapted from here)
2 servings

Ingredients :

- 1 tube silken tofu
- 1 pack of Shimeji mushroom
- 1 broccoli
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 4 mini fishcakes, cut into 3 pieces each
- 8 grey prawns, shelled and deviened
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can chicken broth (~240ml)
- fried shallots, as garnish

Directions :

1) Marinate prawns with salt and pepper. Set aside for 10 mins.

2) Cut away the bottom part of the mushrooms and separate them. Blanch in hot water for a few minutes til they turned slightly soft. Drain and set aside.

3) Blanch broccoli and carrot in some oil with hot boiling water. Drain and set aside separately.

4) Heat up some oil in a claypot. Saute garlic til fragrant.

5) Add in carrots and stir-fry for a few minutes. Then add in the fishcakes and stir-fry for a few seconds.

6) Add in the chicken broth, and braise at medium heat for about 5 minutes. After that, give the soup a taste to see if salt needs to be added. (I didn't add any seasonings coz the canned chicken broth is already salty enough.)

7) Add in prawns, and simmer till they just turned pink. Add in the mushrooms, broccoli and tofu. Let it simmer for another 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, garnish with fried shallots and serve hot.

Chicken Pasta

2010-03-31T22:06:00.000+08:00

I've decided that I had enough of outside food, and so it's back to simple home-cooked pasta again. With the use of chicken broth in this recipe, I was worried that it might turned out to be kind of soupy.. which is weird for a pasta dish. However, my worry was pointless. The moment the pasta and the sauce were mixed together, the broth was soaked up nicely and the dish turned out to be quite flavourful.

Chicken Pasta (recipe from here)

Ingredients :

- 1 pound of linguine

- 1 pound of chicken breast (I used chicken fillets)

- olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- red pepper flakes (as much or as little as you like)
- salt
- juice of 2 lemons
- 1/2 cup (or more or less, depends on how much sauce you want) low sodium chicken broth
- handful chopped parsley (I used dried parsley flakes)
- handful grated parmesan cheese

Directions :

1) Start out by boiling the water for your pasta, as that always takes the longest for me. Cook your pasta according to the instructions on the box.

2) Cut up your chicken, and set aside. In a large skillet heat up enough olive oil to cover bottom of pan. Add in garlic and sautee until tender, this should take a few minutes. Add in salt (about a tsp. or so) and red pepper flakes and cook for a minute.

3) Add in chicken and cook through. Once chicken is pretty much cooked through, add in lemon juice, and quickly bring to a simmer. Next add in chicken broth, and bring to a simmer again, yet let it simmer for 5-10 minutes.

4) Once pasta is cooked, either add the chicken mixture to the pasta, or vice versa, depending on how large your pot is. Sprinkle in parsley and cheese, and mix together.

The Sound of Music

2010-03-13T22:45:00.000+08:00

I was so so glad that my mother introduced us to this show, The Sound of Music, many years ago. Has it been 20 years already? Thinking back now, it was kind of strange how my younger sister and I, as kids, had the patience in the first place to sit through this very long (3 - 4 hours?) show. Maybe it was the songs that got to us then. But as I grew older, I realised that it was not only the songs that attracted me so much to this show, it was also the simple yet heartwarming storyline, the message of the importance of family, the relationships among the people.

Tiger Prawns Noodle Soup

2010-03-11T21:45:00.001+08:00

Are you a rice or noodle person? I mean, do you have a special preference for one over the other? For me, I'm more of a noodle person. I eat almost any kind of noodles, no matter their shapes and sizes, from Chinese vermicelli to kway teow (flat rice noodles) to spaghetti. I can eat them most of the times without ever missing my rice. Maybe it is because there are so many different noodles, and so, even more ways to cook them that make them so appealing. And when it comes to cooking for one, noodles are so much easier to deal with than rice.

I didn't follow any specific recipe for this noodle soup, but did adapt some steps from here.

Tiger Prawns Noodle Soup
1 serving

Ingredients :

- 1 serving of noodles (I used the one from instant noodles, which is just the right serving for one)
- 5 tiger prawns, shelled and de-veined
- 2 fresh shittake mushrooms, sliced
- 1 small bunch of bok choy
- 1 can (14 oz. , which is about 396g) chicken stock
- 2 small shallots, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 small piece of ginger, sliced and cut into thin strips
- salt, to taste
- cooking oil
- a handful of chopped spring onions, for garnish (optional)
- a handful of fried shallots, for garnish (optional)

Directions :

1) Put a pot of water to boil and add in the instant noodles (without any seasonings). Cook the noodles for less than the normal time required and drain away the water. Put the noodles aside.

2) Heat up the chicken stock in a pot.

3) Meanwhile, heat up the cooking oil in the wok, and add the garlic, ginger and shallot and stir-fry for less than a minute, just to release their aromas.

4) Add the prawns, and stir-fry for less than a minute, then add the button mushrooms and stir-fry with the prawns for less than a minute. Lastly, add in the bok choy and stir-fry all together for less than a minute.

5) Slowly pour in the chicken stock into the wok. Stir to combine the ingredients and stock, and give it a taste at this point to see if salt needs to be added. Once done with the seasoning, pour everything over the noodles, add garnishes and serve immediately.

Auntie Tips (20)

2010-03-07T12:30:00.000+08:00

Tip 1 :
If you have chopped more garlic than what your recipe requires, you can still keep the bunch and maintain their freshness. You can even add a little flavour too. Simply soak the pieces in olive oil inside a bottle and then keep in the fridge.

Tip 2 :
Cut out the bottom of a clean milk jug; turn it upside down and fill it with the plastic bags from grocery shopping. Punch holes on the sides of the jug, insert hooks and hang it in your pantry. To dispense the plastic bags, just pull through the mouth of the jug.

Tip 3 :
To prevent the mess kids might leave behind due to ice-cream dripping from the cone, simply stuff a piece of marshmallow at the botton of the cone to prevent this.

Tip 4 :
When you've purchased new bedsheets, use the plastic cover that comes with it to store your shoes or sandals. It will keep them clean and dust-free, plus you can easily organise them at a glance.

Tip 5 :
Lint and dust are more visible on dark wood furniture. Others may mop it up with a wet cloth, but here's another way to remove those specks : Get a long bottle or a rolled-up magazine, put cellophane tape around it sticky side up and roll it along the surface.

From : Women's Weekly - Jan 2008

Spicy Garlic Shrimp and Tomato Spaghetti

2010-03-05T21:59:00.001+08:00

It's sometimes quite frustrating when it comes to buying ingredients for two, or even one. The quantities for most ingredients are pre-packed and limited in the supermarket. For example, I'm forced to buy a whole big bunch of packed parsley which most likely will last the 2 of us for the next 2 weeks, instead of just a handful which I only need to keep for a few days.

So, it's not much surprise that I had been cooking for the past 3 days. And even less surprising is that, all 3 were pasta dishes. I guess it can't be helped since the ingredients (cherry tomatoes, fresh parsley, sour cream) I bought were more suited for cooking pasta than anything else, or most likely, simpler for a lazy person like myself. ;p

However, I think I have reached my 'limit'. It's time to take a step back from pasta for a while. Let me look through my bookmarked recipes to see what else I can try next. :)

Spicy Garlic Shrimp and Tomato Spaghetti (recipe from : here)
4 servings

Ingredients :

• 2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 pound spaghetti
• 1/2 pound shelled and deveined medium shrimp, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 pint small yellow pear or red grape tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon minced rosemary
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions :

1) In a small skillet, cook the bread crumbs in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape the bread crumbs onto a plate.

2) In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the spaghetti until just barely al dente. Drain the spaghetti, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.

3) Meanwhile, in a large, deep skillet, combine the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil with the shrimp, tomatoes, garlic, rosemary and crushed red pepper. Add the spaghetti and the reserved cooking water to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderately high heat, tossing the pasta and lightly crushing the tomatoes, until the sauce is slightly thickened and the shrimp are cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer the spaghetti to bowls, sprinkle the bread crumbs on top and serve.

Creamy Mushroom and Ham Pasta

2010-03-04T11:47:00.002+08:00

Apologies first to those who might stumble accidentally upon this post, thinking there is some wonderfully delicious creamy pasta. Well, I may not have the perfect photo, but I have the recipe.

I know. You are probably wondering where is the "creamy" part of this dish. It looks so 'pale' and not that appetizing. You might even wonder whether those are tiny bits of scrambled eggs. I guess they are. Sort of.

After the success of the creamy shrimp pasta the night before, I decided to be more 'adventurous' and try my hand at cream + egg combi. (since I still had about half cup of sour cream leftover from the day before) I often read about how difficult it is to make a cream sauce with eggs in it, coz the amount of heat needs to be right so that the eggs won't scrambled, but remain smooth and creamy, like that of a carbonara sauce. But as you can see, mine didn't turned out like that at all.

I was thinking whether or not it was a good idea to put up this 'failed' attempt. But then, it might be a good reference for me, if, and when, I decide to try it again in the future. Also, it didn't taste as bad as it looks. Lucky for me.

Creamy Mushroom and Ham Pasta (recipe adapted from : The Australian Women's Weekly Pasta Cookbook)

4 servings

Ingredients :

- 250g fusilli pasta

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 1 medium brown onion, chopped finely

- 4 bacon rashers, sliced thinly (I used 2 slices of ham instead)

- 2 tablespoons of pine nuts (Couldn't find this, so I omitted it)

- 250g mushrooms, sliced thinly

- 1/2 cup sour cream

- 1 egg, beaten lightly

- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions :

1) Cook pasta in a large pan of boiling water, uncovered, until just tender; drain.

2) Heat oil in pan; cook onion, bacon and pine nuts, stirring until onion is soft. Add mushrooms; cook, stirring, until mushrooms are soft. Stir in combined sour cream, egg, cheese and parsley; stir over low heat until heated through. Serve over pasta.

Spicy Shrimp and Fettuccine

2010-03-03T11:32:00.002+08:00

I had been wanting to try out a cream-based pasta for a long time. As the husband is not really a fan of creamed pasta, I decided to start off with one that has a combination of cream and tomato sauce. And it got a thumbs-up from the husband. :)

Spicy Shrimp and Fettuccine (recipe from : here)
4 servings

Ingredients :

- 8 ounces (1/2 lb) uncooked fettuccine
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 cups chopped plum tomato (about 5) (I used cherry tomatoes)
- 2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dried basil (I used fresh curly parsley)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions :

1) Cook pasta according to the package directions. Drain.

2) Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add red pepper and garlic to pan; sauté 1 minute. Add shrimp; sauté 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes, sour cream, tomato paste, basil and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in pasta; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated.

3) Place 1 1/2 cups pasta mixture on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1 tablespoon cheese. Serve immediately.

Auntie Tips (19)

2010-03-01T12:26:00.000+08:00

Tip 1 :
Turn used perfume bottles into decorative pieces by putting artificial flowers, or have fun lining them up on a mantle or shelf in your study or living room.

Tip 2 :
What can you do with a pair of chopsticks, beads and votive candle holder? Use them to make an arty photo stand. Apply hot glue on the centre of the votive candle holder. Stick the chopsticks in. After the glue has dried and the chopsticks are upright, fill the votive holder with beads and insert your favourite photo in between the chopsticks, or put the photo in front.

Tip 3 :
Cut out used envelope's corners, which will leave you with little triangles. These can be used as organisers for your documents. Group similar bills or papers and insert the top left side of the pages inside a triangle cut-out. Staple and them label based on date or subject.

Tip 4 :
Remove all the burnt smells in the kitchen with the skin of an orange. Simply place the skin in a shallow saucepan filled with water and simmer. Your kitchen will be filled with a refreshing aroma.

From : Women's Weekly - Nov 2007

Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil

2010-02-24T14:34:00.000+08:00

I don't usually have the 'motivation' to cook when I'm alone at home. The thought of washing up after that would be enough to deter me most of the time, and I would end up buying food from outside. But once in a while, I'm even lazier to drag my butt out of the house. And today is one of those days.

Thanks to this cookbook I borrowed from the library a few days ago, I managed to find some really simple pasta dishes that I can cook for myself without much fuss. Also, if you are trying out this dish, do note that there is a difference between the flat leaf parsley stated in the recipe, as to the curly parsley I used (bought from NTUC).

Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil (recipe from : The Best Ever One-Pot Cookbook by Jenni Fleetwood)

Note : the following quantity is for 4 servings

Ingredients :

- 400g fresh / dried spaghetti
- 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 - 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 dried red chilli (I substituted with red chilli flakes)
- 1 small handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped (I could only find curly parsley)
- salt

Directions :

1) Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted boiling water, according to the packet instructions, until it is just tender, adding plenty of salt to the water* (see note below).

2) When the pasta is just tender, drain it using a large colander, then transfer it to a warmed, large serving bowl.

3) Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the garlic and dried chilli and stir over low heat for a minute or two until the garlic is just beginning to brown. Remove the dried chilli and discard.

4) Pour the hot olive oil and cooked garlic mixture over the pasta, add the chopped parsley and toss vigourously until pasta glistens, then serve immediately.

* Note : Don't use salt when you are preparing the hot oil, garlic and chilli mixture, because the salt will not dissolve sufficiently. This is why plenty of salt is recommended for cooking the pasta.

And being a cheese person, I added a handful of grated Parmesan cheese to the pasta in the end so the saltiness of the dish is just right. :)

Auntie Tips (18)

2010-02-21T12:12:00.000+08:00

Tip 1 :
Here's another way to get rid of dirt on any white material : just pour any herbal-infused shampoo you can find into a pail, together with the material. Add some water and leave it there for a while. The water will turn grey - a sign that the dirt has been removed. Try this method for getting the shine back in your stainless steel pots and pans too.

Tip 2 :
Are your child's stuffed toys beginning to get dusty and dirty? Bring out the cornstarch and start rubbing it onto the affected areas. Let the cornstarch stand for a while before brushing it off.

Tip 3 :
To make fresh lemon or orange juice without a juicer, simply place the fruit on a chopping board, and roll it back and forth a couple of times. Cut the fruit in half and insert a fork in the centre. Twist the fork continuously inside the fruit above a wide and large bowl. You'll still get a lot of juice and there'll be no mess at all.

Tip 4 :
If there are stains or unpleasant smells in your vases, just make a mixture of salt and vinegar and rub it all over.

Tip 5 :
You can reuse the plastic, boxy containers which are used to pack grapes and starwberries. As these containers have holes punched into them, you can actually convert them into recyclable strainers. Put your vegetables inside one so you conveniently wash each item under running water. Use it to store the washed vegetables in the fridge as well.

From : Women's Weekly - Oct 2007

Happy Lunar New Year

2010-02-12T11:18:00.002+08:00

新年快乐!

恭喜发财!

Butter Chicken (Indian Chicken in Tomato Cream Sauce)

2010-02-08T14:26:00.001+08:00

This is the second attempt at another butter chicken recipe. I did one back some time ago and it didn't have any sauce. But this was different and we bought a packet of frozen naan from NTUC to go with it.

And I also made some changes to this recipe :

- instead of cooked chicken, I bought chicken fillets and marinated them using the ingredients from the previous butter chicken recipe

- I opted to leave out the garam masala and ground cinnamon coz I didn't want to buy bottles of those just for this recipe (and I thought the marinating would be enough)

- I left out the peas coz I don't like peas

Butter Chicken (Indian Chicken in Tomato Cream Sauce) (recipe from here)

Spice Blend:

• 1 tablespoon garam masala seasoning
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Sauce:
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 teaspoons jarred minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 skinless rotisserie chicken, boned out and pulled into 1 1/2 by 1/2-inch chunks
• 1 (10-ounce) box frozen peas, placed in a colander and run under hot water to thaw
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

1) To make the spice blend: Stir the ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

2) To make the sauce: Melt the butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the pieces just begin to turn gold, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, tomato paste and spice blend, and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly to prevent burning. The spices will be fragrant. Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and stir will. Add the chicken pieces, spoon the sauce over the top and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low and cook, uncovered, until the chicken is warmed through and the sauce is flavorful, about 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Remove the chicken to a serving dish and cover to keep warm.

3) Shake any excess water from the peas. Add the peas and cream to the sauce in the pan, stir well and heat through. Do not boil. Spoon the sauce over the chicken. Serve with rice and warmed pita bread.

Variation: If you prefer shreds of chicken to whole pieces, remove the skin from the chicken and pull the meat into large chunks by hand. Add to the pan along with the garlic, tomato paste and spice blend. Cook for 3 minutes and then add the tomato sauce and continue with the recipe. Serve over basmati rice.

Auntie Tips (17)

2010-01-31T11:33:00.002+08:00

Tip 1 :
To create a natural and uplifting scent for your bathroom, cut an orange in half, scoop out the pulp to form a cup and pour in a tablespoon of salt. Leave one on the sink, above the cabinet or within the toilet area. Once the smell is gone, you can just replace the orange cups with new ones.

Tip 2 :
To sharpen your scissors, stack three pieces of aluminium foil one on top of the other and cut them a few times.

Tip 3 :
Before you get rid of your old blouses, snip off the pretty buttons and store them in a jar. You can use them to jazz up a picture frame, embellish a plain purse or create a one-of-a-kind bookmark. You can also add some to your scrapbook or journal.

Tip 4 :
To make deliciously fried and crisp fish, immerse the fish in milk before you dip it in flour.

Tip 5 :
Snip off the foot part of an old pair of stockings and place it over your sweeper's head. Push the edges into the grippers to secure, and start cleaning the rooms as usual. You will find that the mesh fabric of the stocking attracts and traps dust quickly.

From : Women's Weekly - Sept 2007

Natalie - 3-4 months old

2010-01-27T12:56:00.000+08:00

doesn't look quite happy to be sitting in the stroller

other than her fingers, her shirt is her next favourite food

trying hard to find a way to watch the TV

Claypot Chicken Rice

2010-01-22T12:23:00.000+08:00

I was actually not very pleased with how this dish turned out. The overall taste was good, but the rice turned out to be too soggy. I always have a problem when it comes to estimation, and I had to admit that it's quite difficult to judge the amount of water when it comes to cooking rice without using a rice cooker. And I also thought to just half the recipe and follow the amount, but apparently, something was wrong somewhere. So, the next time, I'm going to follow what my mother suggested: 1 cup rice = 1 cup liquid.

Claypot Chicken Rice (recipe from here)

Ingredients :

- 1 Chinese sausage

- 4 chicken thighs – cut to bite size pieces
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy
- 2 tbsp light soy
- 2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
- 1 tsp cornflour
- 2 tbsp of rice wine
- 1 inch ginger (julienned)
- 1 tsp of salt
- ½ tsp of pepper
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 spring onions (chopped finely)
- 5 dried shitake mushrooms, (soaked in warm water for 20 minutes)
- 2 cups rice
- 3 cups chicken stock

Directions:

1. Mix the chicken with all the ingredients except the rice, mushrooms, spring onions and stock. Leave to marinade for at least half an hour.

2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok and stir-fry marinated chicken meat for 1 minutes. Add mushroom slices, sliced chinese sausage. Dish out and put aside

3. Put the rice and chicken stock in the cold claypot and place it over a medium heat with the lid on. Bring to the boil and immediately reduce the heat to a low simmer, then leave the rice to steam for 15 minutes. The rice should be nearly cooked, with little holes in the flat surface.

4. Spread the chicken mixture all over the top of the rice, and put the lid back on. Continue to steam over a low heat for another 15 minutes, until the chicken is white and cooked through. Give it a few stir and sprinkle the spring onions over the top and serve piping hot.

Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Bublé

2010-01-14T12:14:00.000+08:00

Shortbread Cookies

2010-01-11T22:48:00.000+08:00

Do not let these odd-shaped looking cookies fool you. It was just the presentation and looks that were a little off, other than those, the taste was good. Really surprisingly good. I was also very happy that my uncle actually wondered if I could make these and sell them for the coming Chinese New Year. However, I didn't have much confidence. I suspected it was because of my toaster oven that gave these cookies the slightly dark burnt look, not at all shortbread-looking like those from the recipe link. But I was still very glad that everyone enjoyed it. :) And I'm definitely getting some cookies cutters soon.

Shortbread Cookies (recipe from here)

Ingredients :

- 3 sticks unsalted, softened butter (24 tablespoons)

- 1 cup of sugar, plus a little extra, for sprinkling
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- chocolate for melting and dipping or drizzling (optional)

Directions :

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (~176 degrees Celsius)

2) In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix together the butter and one cup of the sugar, until just combined. Now add the vanilla.

3) In another bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add it to the butter/sugar/vanilla mixture. Mix on low speed until everything just comes together.

4) Form dough into a disk and then chill for 30 minutes. Roll out dough to about 1/2 -inch thick. Cut out with whatever cookie cutters you’d like. If you’d like, before baking, sprinkle with sugar.

5) Bake for 30 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Let cool and dip in/drizzle on melted chocolate, if desired.
These cookies stored well for about 5 days in cookie tins.

Chicken Ngoh Hiang

2010-01-08T14:16:00.001+08:00

So I've finally made my ngoh hiang. Yes, with chicken instead of pork coz as I had mentioned before, I can't stand the piggish taste of supermarket pork. Though I suspect that using chicken might not taste as sweet and succulent as pork, but I'm still very satisfied with the overall result. I had made ngoh hiang, of all things. It was not as difficult as I thought it would be.

And I'm also proud to say that I had kind of got the seasoning right this time. According to this post from The Little Teochew, there are 2 ways to get around the saltiness of this dish :

1) Go light on your seasoning of the filling, so that the saltiness of the wrapper makes up for the blandness, or

2) Season your filling as you normally would. Then, using a clean damp cloth, wipe the wrappers a few times (both sides) very gently. Make sure your cloth is damp and not wet, else your wrappers will turn soggy. Rinse the cloth thoroughly after each wrapper has been wiped. Squeeze dry and go on to the next.

And I followed the first method, coz I didn't think I have to patience to wipe and wash, wipe and wash. Heh.

Ngoh Hiang (recipe from here)

Ingredients :

- 300g minced pork (or any minced meat you prefer)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced finely
- 6 water chestnuts, chopped roughly
- 6 medium sized fresh prawns, shelled, de-veined and chopped into small chunks
- 2 stalks leeks (the white part only), sliced thinly OR substitute with 2 stalks spring onions, chopped (I used both)
- 1 tbs soy sauce
- 1 tbs fish sauce (I omitted this)
- dash of sesame oil
- dash of pepper
- 1 small egg, beaten lightly
- Ngoh Hiang skin (sold in large, folded sheets at dry goods shops ... you have to cut them to size before rolling)

Directions :

1) To the minced meat, add garlic, leeks, prawns and water chestnuts together. Add in 1 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs fish sauce and a dash of sesame oil.

2) Add in one egg and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle some spring onions for colour.

Note : To see how to assemble the ngoh hiang, follow the recipe link.

Pork Cannelloni

2010-01-02T22:21:00.002+08:00

I would like to apologise for the terrible photo. It is really difficult to get a good shot at food with pasta sauce and baked cheese, everything always look like a mess no matter from which angle.

With that said, I always thought that it is not very common to use pork in pasta dishes. But I had a pack of minced pork bought the day before, as I was planning to make something else. However, I couldn't get the main ingredient so the pork ended up in here.

Since I couldn't find the frozen lasagna sheets, I thought using the hard ones might do. I just need to soak it in slightly salted hot water to soften it. But somehow, that didn't work very well, and the lasagna sheets were a little too chewy. Luckily, they were still edible and not that bad. The following is made up of bits and pieces of instructions I had read up on different cannelloni recipes.

Pork Cannelloni

2 servings

Ingredients :

- 4 (17cm x 12cm) lasagna sheets
- 1 cup minced pork
- 1 tablespoon bread crumbs
- 1 egg
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons of stock
- 1 bottle 575g pasta sauce (I used less than that amount)
- Shredded Parmesan cheese
- Shredded Mozarella cheese
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions :

To make the pork filling,

1) Brown the chopped onion and garlic in olive oil and add the meat, spreading it out well across the frying pan so that it cooks evenly.

2) Season with salt and pepper. Add in the stock, cover and leave to cook over a low heat until the stock has evaporated. Turn off the heat and add the bread crumbs, mix in with the meat, and leave to cool. When the meat is cooled, add in the egg. Mix well.

Note : As the stock and the pasta sauce are already salted, I would suggest to just add a tiny amount of salt at this stage. Or maybe not add any at all. It all depends on how salty you like your pasta to be.

To assemble the cannelloni,

1) Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

2) Spread the some pasta sauce over the the baking dish.

3) Taking a lasagna sheet, spoon the desired amount of meat at one end of the sheet. Roll up the sheet around the meat and place the seam side down over the tomato sauce in the baking dish. Repeat with the other lasagna sheets and the rest of the pork.

4) Cover the cannelloni with the rest of the pasta sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan and Mozarella, before placing a sheet of aluminium foil over the top and placing in the oven.

5) After 10 minutes, remove the aluminium foil and leave to cook for another 20 minutes, or until the cheese begins to brown.

Note : For my case, the cheese browns in less than 20 minutes.

A look back

2009-12-31T11:07:00.011+08:00

Two major issues that had happened in 2009. First is the decision to quit my 4-year full-of-fun-but-going-nowhere job, and second, was the arrival of my niece, Natalie. Of course there were other issues, but they were not as important as these two, or are too personal to share. And since I couldn't think of anything more to write up about 2009, I shall leave you with this short note that Ray, my fellow colleague and good friend, had summarised about our 4-year journey together with our other 2 colleagues, in the same workplace.

The story of the bus driver and his passengers

I guess it all got started about 4 years ago? The journey of a bus driver and his passengers.

I can still remember there was once this bus driver….determined and driven, looking for the right passengers to board his bus……

The destination? The journey bounding for the Promised Land; or so it was promised.

He found 4 passengers of different character and skills and for a short time, the journey through the scenic meadow was both beautiful and glorious but good time, like roses, didn’t last. The bus driver lost his direction and motivation soon after and begun taking a back seat, leaving the passengers in utter astonishment. Forced to take over the reign, the 4 passengers tried to steer the bus back to its original path but were met with frustrating obstacles. There were suddenly many bus stops, slowing the journey to a snail pace and many drivers started to board the bus, demanding different pit stops and destinations. Shortly after, one passenger got pulled out of the bus, promised a better transport (a merc cab?) to a better destination, The Nirvana. He was promised of a more comfortable and professional journey in his merc cab. But the rest of the passengers knew, the poor guy was actually been transferred onboard a lorry filled with blanghras and was heading towards the black hole.

Nevertheless the 3 remaining passengers trudged on…. Struggling through the bumpy, cloudy desert road.

Time flew and like what time can do to everything, things got numb – the millions of last minute pit stops, trillions of empty promises, zillions of conflicting directions from various bus drivers and most importantly, the journey with no ending in sight, did not matter anymore. The stand-in passengers were tired.

And so finally, they decided to press the bell. They have decided..... to take the MRT.

Inside-joke story.

Looking back, the 4 passengers believe in efficiency. They kept the ultimate destination in mind all the time. They tried to steer the bus back on route with all their might. They tried to sound out when things go wrong, tried to standardize correct practices and even tried to find alternative to problems but their voices were often sniffled, deem to be complain~y or critical.

Looking back, maybe the bus never did left the bus station in the first place ya?

hahaha

Anyway, the journey had been a rewarding one. The passengers bonded together, became close friends and companions and no hard grudges were bear since bus drivers and passengers all got their own objectives, goals and ways of handling a bus. :)

To the cinema : Bodyguards and Assassins (十月围城)

2009-12-30T23:43:00.001+08:00

This is the last movie that we watched for 2009, and coincidentally (or not) the previous Mandarin movie we had watched was also has Donnie Yen in it. Heh.

I didn't read up about this movie, or look at reviews before stepping into the cinema. So, there was not much expectations, and I was surprised about the VIP cast, even though some appeared only for less than 10 minutes. And as I thought back about it, I realised that this is those kind of 50-50 movie, where you like it 50% but on the other hand, dislike the other 50%.

There is nothing much to talk about the film without giving the simple and somewhat expected plot away. But I can say that the 50% I like is the way the characters were introduced, and how their relationships were clearly shown. The 50% I dislike is that I expected much more action since there is Donnie Yen in it. And when there were actions in some scenes, they were over a little too quickly before we can see the skills of the character, and get excited over the fighting.

And apologies to Leon Lai fans who happen to read this. For the life of me, I can't understand why the team cannot find another more suitable face or personality for this character. I admit I was never a fan of Leon Lai, and the image of him in this movie is really not for him at all. I couldn't stop laughing whenever he appeared, and same goes for the girl sitting beside me in the cinema.

Gong Zai Mian (公仔面)

2009-12-20T13:43:00.001+08:00

I could still remember my very first "encounter" with Gong Zai Mian. It was my very first trip to Hong Kong with the husband (then boyfriend) and my girl friend. We had randomly stepped into a modest eatery for lunch and were browsing through the menu on the wall when this dish caught my eye. It sounded like something quite interesting and since I am more of a noodle person, I placed an order for it. And imagine our surprise when it arrived... instant noodles with a sunny-side up, luncheon meat and some vegetables.

So with some leftover luncheon meat, Gong Zai Mian came to mind. From the few blog posts I read, the instant noodles must be Nissin's Chu Qian Yi Ding (出前一丁). And this is such a simple meal that can be whipped up quickly and cheaply, it's atrocious how much those Hong Kong Cafes here charge for this dish.

And apologies if the egg didn't look as appealing as a sunny-side coz I'm not a fan of uncooked egg yolk. ;p

Luncheon meat and egg sandwich

2009-12-19T12:48:00.001+08:00

There is something about the canned luncheon meat that I will not get tired of. The slight saltiness and the crispiness of it when fried, is forever so addictive. Yes, I know about healthy living and all that stuff. Don't worry. Luncheon meat is not something we eat all the time. We, or rather, I, have it once in a while when the craving sets in.

I can't remember the last time I had a luncheon meat and egg sandwich. But I remembered my mother used to make it for me whenever I went for school excursions during the primary school days. There was this one trip to Sentosa, when it started to rain heavily as we were heading back to the school bus. Since none of us had umbrellas with us, we had to brave through the rain. By the time we got on the bus, my classmates and I were nearly drenched and cold, no thanks to the air-con. At that moment, I remembered the packed luncheon meat and egg sandwiches my mother made for me. And though they were already somewhat soggy, they still tasted wonderful to me. I ate everything while my classmates watched with envy.

Ad attraction

2009-12-17T12:10:00.001+08:00

Once in a while, a song from some advertisement will grab my attention and I would start to Google or go to YouTube to look for it. It's like a new song that "clicked" with you the moment you hear it, and you wouldn't mind it circling in your head for the whole day. And by whatever means, I'll have to get it as my handphone ringtone. And the lastest one is this :

The previous commercial song that got my attention, and is still my SMS ringtone was this :

Char Kway Teow

2009-12-06T22:05:00.045+08:00

Yes, yes, I know my char kway teow is much 'paler' than the original ones that we are used to (unless we are talking about the Penang one). I only eyeballed the dark soy sauce amount, but I think there would not be much difference to the overall taste, except maybe a more distinct sweetness of the sauce if I had put in more.

In fact, this is one dish that I didn't really follow the measurements from the recipe. I only used it as a guide to get the ingredients and the steps to frying it. And I'm glad to say that it turned out quite well. However, I didn't really read the blog post well enough to see the suggestion : The trick to this dish is to use high heat and cooked one serving at a time for maximum 'wok hey' (wok's breath). I'll be sure to keep this in mind coz I know there will be a next time. :)

Char Kway Teow (Recipe from here )

Ingredients :

- 250 gm Kueh Teow (flat rice noodles)
- 150 gm prawns - shelled
- 100 grm of meat or cockles (I used char siew)
- a handful of beansprouts
- 5 stalks chives or spring onions - cut into 2cm lengths
- 2 eggs
- 3 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
- 2 tsp of chili paste - optional
- 3 tbsp of light sauce sauce
- 2 tbsp of dark soy sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste

Directions :

1. Heat up wok to high heat, add oil and garlic and fry till fragrant.

2. Add prawns, meat and ground chili and stir-fry for about 20 secs.

3. Add noodles, stir fry for a few second, add in soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Continue to fry until everything is well combined. Add in beansprouts.

4. Push mixture to edge of wok, add a little oil in centre. Add and fry the eggs and then mix everything together. Check seasoning.

5. Lastly add in chives or spring onions and give the noodles a few toss.

6. Dish out and serve hot.

Braised Ginger Chicken with Potatoes

2009-12-01T10:01:00.054+08:00

I admit that when it comes to food, I'm a little weird and maybe a little picky sometimes, yes, just sometimes. Weird in the sense that I only eat the skin of the chicken if it's deep-fried or roasted. I cannot stand the 'squishy-ness' and the slight taste of fat of the chicken skin if it is cooked any other way.

So, understandably, I would choose chicken fillets instead of chicken drumsticks as stated in the original recipe. I also realised that chicken fillets are not as dry as chicken breasts, if cooked quick and right.

Braised Ginger Chicken with Potatoes (Recipe from here)

Ingredients:

- Chicken drumsticks - 5 pcs, chopped into chunks
- Coriander leaves, one handful, chopped (I forgot about this so I used spring onions)
- Potatoes - 2 medium sized, chunks
- Ginger - 10 slices
- Garlic - 2 cloves, minced
- Shallots - 1 pc, sliced
- Salt - 2 tsp
- Dark soya sauce - 2 tbsp
- Sesame oil - 1/2 tsp

Seasonings:

- Light soya sauce - 1 tbsp
- Lee & Perrin sauce - 1 tsp (I omitted this)
- Salt & pepper - Dash
- Sesame oil - 1 tsp

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken drumsticks with seasonings. Set aside for 20 mins.

2. Sautee garlic, shallots, ginger till fragrant.

3. Add in potatoes and sautee till potatoes are slightly brown.

4. Add in marinated chicken, stir fry for 10 mins.

5. Add salt. Stir occasionally till chicken is half cooked and fragrant.

6. Then, add warm water to cover 3/4 of the chicken. Simmer with lid covered till sauce is thicken.

7. When the sauce is half thicken, add in coriander leaves. Simmer for another 10 mins.*

8. Off fire, stir in dark soya sauce and sesame oil, mix well.

9. Dish up, garnish with some coriander leaves and serve.

*Note : If you are using chicken fillets or breasts, I think you can keep the simmering to under 10 minutes, or the better gauge is to check for the consistency of the sauce.

三杯鸡 (Three Cups Chicken)

2009-11-22T12:57:00.007+08:00

Sometimes, the cooking mood will strike and I would find myself looking through my online bookmarks to see what I can whip up next for the ~~guinea pig~~ husband. Or a recipe that I had read before will suddenly pop up in my mind and I told myself that I had to try it.

And this was what happened with this Three Cups Chicken recipe. I came across it on a blog a long time ago and thought it might be interesting to try but I didn't keep the link. Until recently, I was reading my latest favourite blog, The Little Teochew, and it so happened that she had cooked the dish. And it didn't seemed as complicated as I remembered. The only thing I would change is to use a fork to poke some holes through the chicken skins before marinating so the sauce would be thoroughly soaked through.

Update : I did this a second time, and poked a few tiny holes through the chicken wings before marinating them. And the final product did taste much much better, with the seasonings getting right into the meat.

Three Cups Chicken (recipe from : here)

Ingredients : (according to what I bought and used)

- 2 packs of chicken (mid-wing parts only)

- 1/3 cup Hua Tiao chinese rice wine

- 1 bulb garlic, separated into individual cloves, skins on

- 2 tbsp fine sugar

- 3 large bunches of spring onions, cut into 1 inch lengths

Directions :

1. Marinate chicken with soy, sesame oil and rice wine. At least for 6 hours, although overnight is best.

2. Take the chill off the meat. Heat up some sesame oil in a wok or claypot until it is sizzling hot.

3. Throw in garlic, ginger and spring onions. Fry briefly till fragrant. Add in chicken and sear.

4. Keep stir-frying. Pour in the marinade liquid and the sugar. Continue to cook on medium.

5. Once you have a rolling boil, cover the wok/claypot and let it simmer over a small flame, until all the liquid has disappeared and the chicken is on the cusp of burning.

6. There should hardly be any gravy left. The chicken should be caramelised (charred at parts, even) and sizzling when served.

Stuffed Tau Poks

2009-11-21T22:41:00.000+08:00

Once in a ~~long long~~ while, I could surprise myself by being much more hardworking than usual when it comes to food. We were supposed to attend a wedding dinner of a friend, and knowing the time that the actual eating begin at most wedding dinners, I thought that the husband and I could have some snacks before we leave.

This immediately came to mind and I started preparing it around 3 in the afternoon. I didn't know what came over me to be so diligent that day, but I was glad I gave the stuffed tau poks (tofu puffs) a try. Though the preparation and cooking took some time, the final product was worth the effort! :)

Oven-baked sweet potato chips

2009-11-18T15:55:00.002+08:00

The last few times we went to the supermarket, the husband lingered a bit longer at the potato chips section. But he always managed to resist the temptation. So, considering his constant need to snack and in hopes to satisfy his craving for the heavily salted potato chips off the shelves, I decided to try out a version of oven-baked sweet potato chips I found online.

Since I didn't have a mandolin slicer, I had to try to cut the sweet potato slices as uniform in thickness as possible. Other than that, the rest of the process was simple.

Oven-baked sweet potato chips (recipe from : here)

Ingredients :

- 1 sweet potato

- vegetable oil for spraying

- sea salt

- mandolin slicer(preferably)

Directions :

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice potatoes with a mandolin slicer. Lay out the potato slices on a single sheet in the oven. Spray the potatoes with vegetable oil on each side and sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake for 10-20 minutes, monitoring the chips frequently to make sure they don't burn. If you want, you can flip the chips halfway through baking. Let cool a bit and then serve!

Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani)

2009-11-15T14:54:00.004+08:00

A few weeks ago, Sam brought us to this North Indian/Pakistani restaurant called Usman at Arab Street. Ever since that meal of delicious butter chicken and naan, we were already planning for our next trip there. Meanwhile, the husband thought I could search the Internet for the recipe and try it at home first. A very big vote of confidence there. :)

Anyway, my search brought up a number of butter chicken recipes and I chose the one that seemed the most authentic (but easy) to try. And as you can see from the picture, there was no gravy at all! I didn't know why since the recipe keeps mentioning the word "gravy", or maybe there was something missing? But luckily, the chicken tasted good, and instead of naan, I think this would go much better with white rice.

However, with the indian spices already bought for use, I will be trying out the other bookmarked butter chicken recipe, which I hope would yield some gravy coz I see that tomato paste is one of the ingredient. But for now, the recipe for this dry version of butter chicken :

Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani) (recipe from here)

4 servings

Ingredients :

For marination :
- 800 grams of chicken cut into pieces (preferably boneless)
- 1 tablespoon(s) slightly sour yoghurt (I didn't use this)
- 1 tablespoon(s) vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon(s) each of coriander, cumin and red chilli powders
- 1 onion chopped and made into a paste (optional)
- 2 teaspoon(s) each of ginger, garlic pastes
- salt to taste

For the gravy :
- 4 large tomatoes chopped
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon(s) fresh cream
- 1 teaspoon(s) each of coriander, cumin, red chilli and black pepper powders
- 2 teaspoon(s) each of finely chopped ginger and green chillies
- salt and sugar to taste
- melted butter, fresh cream and finely chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Directions :

1) Prick holes and make cuts in the chicken pieces. Mix well the ingredients for the marinade and rub into the chicken pieces. Let it marinate for a few hours, overnight if possible for best results.

2) Heat half the butter on medium level in a heavy-bottomed pan and put in the chicken along with the marinade. cover and cook for about 25 minute(s) or till the chicken is fully cooked. After the liquids have evaporated, stir fry the chicken for some time in the residual fat.

3) Heat the remaining butter in a saucepan and add the red chilli, coriander, cumin and black pepper powders. Fry for a few seconds. Add the chopped tomatoes, sugar, salt and cook uncovered on medium level for about 7 minutes till the puree thickens and the fat separates. Stir in the beaten cream and reduce the heat to low.

4) Add the chicken, chopped ginger and green chillies to the simmering gravy. Sprinkle salt to taste if needed. Mix well. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes or till the curry is thoroughly heated through.

5) Just before serving pour melted butter over the curry. Garnish with a swirl of fresh cream and finely chopped coriander leaves.

Note : I got this tip from another blogger, who is a stay-at-home mum. She mentioned that, to prevent your eyes from tearing when cutting onions, just put a lighted tea candle near the work area. The supposed 'fumes' from the onion which made us teared will be burned off. And it really works! :)

Chicken and mushroom wontons

2009-11-13T22:32:00.002+08:00

This recipe is taken from Marie Claire : Easy, which I had made the shrimp wontons from it previously too. There was also no noodles this time round because I managed to come up with about 36 wontons and we had it with some carrots and cabbage boiled in chicken stock. The chicken wontons were not too bad overall though we were a bit stuffed at the end. However, I much prefer the taste of the shrimp wontons. Maybe because there was a sweetness of the shrimps or maybe it was because I used chicken cubes in water instead of chicken stock, which might have caused the difference too.

Chicken and mushroom wontons (recipe from : Marie Claire : Easy)

Ingredients :

- 4 dried shittake mushrooms

- 1 cup ground chicken

- 4 tablespoons finely chopped bamboo shoots (I didn't add this coz there was none for sale at NTUC)

- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce

- 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger

- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

- 1 pack square wonton wrappers

Directions :

1. Soak the shittake mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain the mushrooms, squeeze out any excess moisture and cut off the tough stalks. Finely chop the mushrooms and put them into a bowl with the chicken, bamboo shoots, soy sauce, ginger and sesame oil. Gently stir to combine the filling ingredients.

2. Put a wonton wrapper on a clean work surface and put a heaping teaspoon of the filling into the centre. Moisten the edges and draw all in together. Pinch to form little bags.

3. Put the wontons onto a steamer to steam for 15 minutes.

Note : I didn't steam them but drop them to cook in boiling chicken stock.

And so it ends...

2009-10-31T14:17:00.002+08:00

Yes. It has finally come to an end, a certain chapter of my life will be closed from this day on. It was certainly a strange feeling. How is it possible that a person can feel un-burdened and free, but also at the same time, a little sad and lost?

Steamed egg

2009-10-28T20:42:00.001+08:00

I've decided to be brave one evening and try my hand at making steamed egg. It may sound like a simple enough dish, but I had seen the few times that even my mum couldn't really get it right. But then again, it may be due to the size of the dish used as well... my mum had to cook for 6, and I had only to cook for 2, and I already spent about 20 minutes steaming it. It was a dish that tested a little of my patience.

Steamed eggs

Ingredients :

- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 300 ml of water
- spring onions, chopped
- soy sauce for taste

additional topping :
- cooking oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- pickled radish (chai poh), minced

Directions :

1) Bring water to boil in a steamer and turn down the heat to a low simmer.

2) Mix the beaten eggs and water in a dish and place into the steamer. While waiting for the eggs to cook, heat up some cooking oil in a frying pan and add in the garlic. Stir-fry it til fragrant and add in the pickled radish. Continue frying til they browned.

3) After 15 minutes or so, insert a knife in the centre to ensure that the egg is not too runny. The final result should be slightly soft but firm and still a bit wobbly when you shake the dish. (This is the part where you have to be patient. I read somewhere that the time to cook actually depends on the heat of water. DO NOT try to turn up the heat or the eggs will be overcooked)

4) Remove from the steamer and sprinkle with the spring onions, the fried garlic and pickled radish mixture, as well as some light soy sauce for taste.

Stir-fry cucumber with dried shrimps

2009-10-28T20:16:00.004+08:00

This is a really simple dish that I learnt from my grandma years ago. I was giving full time private tuition at that time, and so, we usually had our lunch together most of the days. And because her health was not too good, I would cook the meals, unless she craved for some hawker food. Though she had been gone for a few years, I was really thankful for that period of time I had shared with her. There were so many things that I had learnt from her.

Anyway, here is the recipe :

Stir-fry cucumber with dried shrimps

Ingredients :

- 1 cucumber, skin off, de-seeded and cut into strips

- a handful of dried shrimps

- cooking oil

- light soy sauce for taste

Directions :

1) Heat up the cooking oil in a frying pan and add in the dried shrimps. Lightly fry the dried shrimps till fragrant.

2) Add in the cucumber strips and mix well with the dried shrimps, for about 2-3 minutes. Pour in a little water and cover the pan to let the cucmber cook itself.

3) When steam starts to escape, remove the cover and add in some light soy sauce for taste. Mix well.

Baked pasta (1)

2009-10-27T09:11:00.000+08:00

After a failed attempt at baked pasta quite some time back (coz everything became too dry), I decided to give it a try again after reading through some recipes. I also realised that it's important to have a mixture of cheeses when it comes to baked pasta. And I was so glad that everything turned out good this time, though the amount was a bit too much for the 2 of us. So, here is my own (successful) baked pasta recipe.

Ingredients :

- 250g of fusilli pasta
- 1 onion, cut into strips
- 4 shittake mushrooms
- 2 sausages (I used garlic pork sausages)
- about 370g of pasta sauce
- 1/4 cup of water
- shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese, amount depends on how cheesy you like your pasta to be

Directions :

1) Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius.

2) Bring a pot of slightly salted water to boil and cook the fusilli according to instructions on the box. It is good to overcook the pasta a little, maybe about 2-3 minutes so it will not be too tough after baking.

3) Add a bit of oil into the frying pan and cook the sausages for about 4 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

4) In the same pan, add in the onion and cook till it starts to soften and add in the mushrooms (I did it this way coz the mushrooms will get cooked faster than the onion). Return the sausage to the pan and stir to combine. Add in the fusilli, pasta sauce and water. Mix well. Remove from heat.

5) Using a glass baking dish, I spread out half of the pasta, followed by a mixture of the two cheeses, then cover it with the remaining pasta, and some more cheese on top.

6) Put into the oven and baked till the cheese on top turns slightly brown and bubbly.

Chicken stir-fry with red capsicum

2009-10-25T09:02:00.000+08:00

As you can see, I've been bitten by the lazy bug and haven't been blogging for quite some time. So, it's not surprising that it has been a few weeks since I made this dish and only decided to post it now.

This is quite a simple dish and I made some changes from the original recipe coz I didn't want to buy a whole pack of peppercorns just for this. And also, you can use red, yellow or green capsicum for this, it's totally up to individual.

Chicken stir-fry with red capsicum

Ingredients :

- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 pack of chicken breast fillets, cut into strips (the pack I bought had 4 fillets in it)
- 1 onion, cut into wedges
- 1 red capsicum, cut into strips
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce

Directions :

1) Heat the frying pan over high heat and add the oil. Add the chicken strips and stir-fry for about 3 minutes, or until browned.

2) Add the onion and capsicum and stir-fry for about 2 minutes, until the vegetables have softened slightly.

3) Reduce the heat and stir in the oyster sauce.

One-month old Natalie

2009-10-18T09:12:00.003+08:00

In a pretty pink outfit bought by the her Papa

A few unexpected times when her eyes were opened this big

Relaxing on Mama's thighs... is the hairstyle stylo or what...

with great-grandmother

with grandpa

with grandma

and the first boy (the husband's nephew) to ever hug her

The Buns

2009-10-11T10:29:00.000+08:00

Happy children's day... to me...

2009-10-01T10:09:00.003+08:00

People often said childhood is the one of the best time in a lifetime, and I have to agree. Ok, maybe minus the studying, homework and exams, other than that, there is nothing much to worry about as kids. And I have to admit that my sisters and I were very lucky and blessed to have a fun and memorable childhood...

- When we were very young, my sister who was 3 years younger than I am, was still learning to walk, I would, once in a while, felt impulsive and just snatched her hand over and bit her fingers. Then, I would warn her not to tell anybody.

- As both my parents were working, I spent most of my times with my grandparents. My grandfather would play masak-masak with me all the time, and brought me to drink Milo at a coffeeshop, where he would poured it onto the plastic saucer to cool, while we waited for my grandma to do marketing.

- When I was in Primary 1, my form teacher made us line up according to our register numbers and I was paired up with this very fat and disgustingly dirty boy with sweaty palms. To further scar my young innocent life, the teacher made it compulsory that we had to hold hands whenever we lined up to go out as a class.

- My sister and I would try to finish up our Chinese writing homework as fast as possible because our father, being a Chinese teacher, is very strict when it comes to our Chinese character writing. More often than not, he would find our writings not to his liking, took up an eraser and clear the whole page that we had spent the past 30 minutes writing, and made us re-write all over again.

- One day, I forgot to bring my English writing book and the teacher made me call home to get my Grandma to bring it to school. I tried my very best to describe the cover of the book to her, and in then end, she arrived in school with my Math workbook.

- My mother used to cut our hair, up till our secondary school days. There was once (when I was about 7 or 8) when my mother accidentally cut my ear. I didn't feel anything until drops of blood dripped onto a magazine I was reading.

- I was one of the last few to finish a Math test. My classmates were all handing up the papers and leaving the classroom. In the end, I managed to finish the story sums while trying to prevent my tears and snot from dripping onto the test paper.

- My father used to pick me up from school after lessons everyday and most of the times, I was the last to leave (right before the school attendant) because he was always late. So, one day, I felt rebellious (I was having a cough then) enough to buy an ice-cream and was confident that I would finish it before he arrived. He was unexpectedly early on that day.

- We used to stay in Bedok North, right opposite a stadium. One day, I followed my older cousins to the stadium and while they were playing on the tracks, I found myself wondering if my tiny head could fit through the gaps between the railings. And the next thing I knew, I was crying while my father and cousins tried to pull out my head which was stuck between the railings.

So, here's to a happy 1st October to all of us... especially to the child that is living in our hearts.

Again, Natalie!

2009-09-29T07:49:00.005+08:00

Things have been slowing down considerably these few weeks, or maybe that's just an excuse for the lack of postings for September. ;p But whatever it is, there will always be updates of little Natalie! :)

Welcome, Natalie.

2009-09-18T07:47:00.004+08:00

Forgive me if I can't stop talking about the latest addition to the family, Natalie. I've updated my facebook status 3 times since she came in on 16th Sept 2009. Such is the excitement of being an aunt (大姨妈) . With little Natalie's arrival, everyone in the family got "promoted" to a new "position".

And here is the proud grandma...

Back to Mama-ville

2009-09-05T12:59:00.007+08:00

The husband has been called up by the country to do his duty to protect and serve for 2 weeks in Thailand. So, I've moved back to my Mum's place to stay while he was away, since it just takes about 20 minutes from here to reach my workplace compared to our place which will take about an hour or so. And another reason is becoz I'm a scaredy cat, I admit. My imagination is too wild for my own good, especially if I'm alone at home at night, and moreover, it's the Chinese Lunar 7th Month now as well. I think sometimes my mind is out to torture me. When I'm alone without anybody around to distract or entertain me, those past horror movies I had watched will suddenly start to go through my mind. I tried to think of better stuff, but the evil side of me wins most of the time. I think if I were to write a horror story, I might be even more famous than Stephen King.

Anyway, it's kind of nostalgic to be back staying at my parents' place, and especially with my sister and I making a hell of a noise, and according to my mother, which each and everyone of our neighbours can hear. ;p Also, there are some things that had been lying around forever, and some that had been used as decorations for my marriage about 4 years ago and are still there. Needless to say, I think about 40% of my stuff are still stuck in the messy corner of our study room and my father had been nagging at me to bring them all back to my own place but I always pretended not to hear it. Haha.

And look what I managed to dig out from my old drawers...

Used to be something Yun and I were dying to have when we were young coz apparently, it was too expensive ($6.90, I think) for us to afford about 20 years ago

The furry (expensive) stickers

A much cheaper sticker book. I keep all the ugly stickers in here coz once you stuck them in, they are stuck there forever.

My Nokia 8250, Western Bar game belonging to the husband, some friendship bands I made, and a packet of tissue paper with such cute packaging that I can't bear to use since the husband gave me during our Poly days.

Birthday present from the husband when making paper stars were all the rage.

One of my favourite piece of work done during my time in the Art Club during the secondary school days.

Incident for thought (5)

2009-08-31T21:48:00.001+08:00

Just something to think about : some time into the future, when you are old and wrinkly and is officially a senior citizen, and happen to hop onto a train with no vacant seats, would you stand right in front of the youngster who is occupying the "Reserved Seating" for the needy and proceed to try to stare him/her down for the rest of the journey?

Or maybe I was thinking too much, maybe the old woman just find the youngster handsome to look at.

And the all-in-one award goes to...

2009-08-28T07:01:00.009+08:00

People often asked me why I didn't want to be a teacher, after having gone through contract teaching for almost 6 months, is currently working in a school (but not a teacher), and giving tuition for the past 10 years. And my answer to them is always the same : the times have changed, and so, the role of the teacher has also changed. With both my parents being teachers, it's not difficult for me to see the change as the years went by.

When I was younger, I remembered that my parents would reach home almost about the same time I did from school most of the days. My father still had time to check through my 习字本子 (a book to practice writing chinese characters) and would erase off one whole page that I had just completed coz he thought the characters were badly written. My mother had time to go through my Math homework as well, and sometimes, there were still work from the assessment books.

Back in those days, to be a teacher is to just teach, as what we all thought it should be. But for the past few years, though my mother (now retired) was teaching in the morning session and classes should end about 1 p.m., she would not reach home until after 6 p.m. most of the days. This was one significant change I noticed as the years went by in the teaching world. Teachers have more and more things to do and to take care of. And with the introduction of school rankings and other such things, teachers have even more work to do instead of just concentrating on teaching. I know that to improve, there must be competition. But this also brings out a lot of other problems for the schools, teachers, and even students. Problems that only those working in the sector will know. Problems that the highest of the highest authority will never understand.

Besides school rankings, there are still other awards for CCAs, SYF (Singapore Youth Festival) awards, etc, for the schools to compete among themselves. And when the students take part in such competitions, teachers are the ones who will be 'sacrificed'. Of coz the students will have to endure part of the stress and having to miss lessons. But I personally feel that teachers got the most of it. The teacher-in-charge has to find time to train the students, be around if there are external trainers, make sure the students work hard enough to win. If the school wins gold this year, the expectation is there for the teacher to win gold again the next year, the following year, and so on.

And then there is the competition for best class performance inside the school itself. Again, the stress is on the teachers. Besides worrying for the class, there is still the teacher's work performance review, promotion exercise, etc. So, for those people who do not work in schools, do not think that there is no office politics in school. There are much more going around than you can imagine.

One of the most important thing, is the change in the behaviour of the students. I believe that the streaming of the students is one of the causes of such behaviours. And also, the mindset of the teachers for the different streams of students. Do not think that all students in the special/express streams are angels, and that all students in the normal technical streams are devils. The special/express students can be good-mannered and smart, but they can also be scheming and shrewd in the bid to compete to be a top student. The normal technical students can be irritating and rude, but they are street-smart and can be really nice, with no hidden agenda or whatsoever.

And I believe that it's even worse when it comes to dealing with the parents. Kids nowadays are like princes and princesses at home. Whatever they go home telling their parents about the school, the teachers, the classmates, they will always believe that their precious babies are right, and the whole world is in the wrong. They will never believe that their precious babies will lie to them, and when they are being punished in school, these parents will demand to know the who, why, how, and still think their precious babies could do no wrong. I've even heard of cases of parents helping their children to cover their lies.

Which is why some people who did a mid-career switch to teaching get a shock when they start teaching proper. I strongly believe that nobody in the 'outside world' will ever understand how tough it is to be a teacher. The definition of a teacher had changed much over the years. Honestly, if I had a choice 20-30 years ago, I'll definitely choose teaching. Coz a teacher at that time is a 100% teacher. Nowadays, a teacher is more like 30% teacher, 30% administrator, 10% organiser (CNY celebration, Teachers' Day celebration, Sports Day, etc), 10% student (to clock the number of training hours needed), 10% counsellor, and 10% miscellaneous worker.

So, to all teachers out there, hang in there! Have a happy teachers' day. You all have my utmost respect.

The key to 21st

2009-08-14T22:31:00.009+08:00

I can't believe I had forgotten to post about Piglet. Yes, the baby of the family had turned 21 on the 8th of August. It made me feel old just thinking about it, or maybe it was because my own 21st birthday was a decade ago. So, due to this age gap, Yun (3 years younger than me) and I practically watch her grow up.

I know this is going to sound kind of silly, but when the birthday song was sang last weekend, there was a mixture of emotions for me. Of course I'm happy that she is finally 21, and all grown up. But there was also this tiny sense of loss... which I don't know how to explain it. I wondered if this was what Papa and Mama felt as they looked as us celebrating our 21st birthdays, and then getting married.

And since this is a very special year for her, I won't be digging out any silly-looking photos of hers like what I did last year. Luckily I was in the mood a while back to scan in some old photos, and looks like they have come in handy...

So, once again, happy 21st, piglet. May this new journey of yours be filled with love, laughter, fun, and good health.

"Sisters don't need words. They have perfected a language of snarls and smiles and frowns and winks - expressions of shocked surprise and incredulity and disbelief. Sniffs and snorts and gasps and sighs - that can undermine any tale you're telling."

~Pam Brown

To the cinema : Up

2009-08-13T09:28:00.009+08:00

Before I start to talk about this movie, I want you to meet the latest love of my life...
(click here and here to see him in action - can't decide which one I like more so decided to put both)

Isn't he adorable??!! I can't think of any other animated film character who is as adorable and huggable as Russell here. Also, the boy who voiced him did a wonderful job.

Ok, now, back to the movie. And I got to say that this had to be the best animated film I've seen so far. I thought it was good because it touched on 2 extreme areas.

Fantasy : By tying thousands and thousands of balloons to a house and making it fly.
I felt that it somehow brought out the child in every adult, made us recall the impossible and childish dreams that we used to have when we were young.

Reality (1) : The story of Carl and Ellie.
Their dreams of adventure when they were young, when they grew up, fell in love, and got married. And then there was the part when they realised that they could not have any children, they still stood by each other and made the most of everyday. I think this was the first animated film that made me teared up more than once. The first time was when Ellie died, the second time was when the bad guy tried to burn down the house and Carl was torn between saving the house or the bird, and the third time was when Carl was looking through the adventure book and found that Ellie had put their photos in it.

Reality(2) : There was no happy family for little boy Russell.
Most animated films would have a happy family, with the father, mother, brothers and sisters and maybe a pet dog or two. However, for Russell, his parents were separated and no, there was no happy ending where the father comes back to the family.

Despite it being an animated film, I think this is much more suited for adults than children. There were so many areas in the film that sets me thinking about my own life, and how I could really relate to some of it. This is definitely one of those movie that everyone should watch it at least once.

To the cinema : G.I. Joe

2009-08-08T21:32:00.001+08:00

A quick search through Wikipedia tells me that, G.I. = Government Issue, therefore, G.I. Joe = Government Issue ... Joe? Why Joe??

Ok, that is not important.

The important thing is, with a movie like that, where all the characters are all acting cool and super smart and almost Superman-like, why are there NO cute guys???!!!!!

And the more I thought of it, the more I felt that the movie somehow resembled Transformers in some way, and so the husband mentioned it too. To me, it was also a mess of fight scenes, except in this movie, there were real people using sophisticated and a little unreal technologies and equipment. And honestly, there is really nothing else that stands out in the movie. Somehow, not even the ending builds up any anticipation for part 2. I'll patiently wait for the DVD release.

The only interesting thing about the movie is, with the use of such high-end technologies, it makes me wonder if some of it are not already being developed. I could use that invisible suit if there is one to spare.

Da Vinci Exhibition

2009-08-05T20:18:00.000+08:00

We finally found time to visit the Da Vinci exhibition at the Singapore Science Centre, with one more week to go before it ends. Though the $15 entrance fee, in my opinion, was a little on the steep side, the experience was a good one. I would recommend a trip down to the Science Centre soon (exhibition ends 16th Aug 2009) coz this is something that is not to be missed.

I have to admit that I don't know much about Da Vinci, other than him drawing Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and the Vitruvian Man, and whatever I had learnt from reading The Da Vinci Code novel. So what made me want to go to this exhibition? I might sound like an idiot here, but honestly, when I first heard about this, I thought it would be like an art exhibition, showcasing all his paintings. However, thanks to the power of advertisements, it made me realised that there were much more than paintings to Da Vinci.

I was really surprised by the things that he invented, and the husband was just as impressed. Da Vinci's inventions didn't just focused on one particular area, instead, many of the things on show were widely spread and somehow related to our daily lives. Like the pulley system, the hang glider, a parachute, a bicycle, a very big and bulky odometer, the flippers and the diving suit, weapons and machines for war, and even the skiing equipment used today were an idea from him, though Da Vinci's initial idea was to be able to walk on water instead of ice. No wonder he was called a genius. Click here to see more of this inventions.

The only disappointing thing about the exhibition was that no photography was allowed.

Note : Discovery channel is coming up with a show : Doing DaVinci, where a team of expert builders will try to construct these unique inventions using only materials available in da Vinci's own time.