Incident for thought (6)

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!

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

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

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)

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

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)

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)

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

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

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.  :)