Goodbye 2008

To be honest, I'm not sorry at all that the year 2008 is coming to an end. If I were to think back over the past 365 days, besides what had happened around the world, natural or man-causing disasters, I can almost be sure that there were more unhappy stuff compared to happy ones, at least that is what I can say for myself.

I realised more than ever how true the statement "never judge a book by its cover" is. People can act nice and friendly in front of you, then when your back is turned, they will stab you from behind, and you never realised that you are dying of blood loss until it's too late. I thought I should have gotten used to such office politics by now, but then when it happened, I couldn't stop thinking about it. What is worse is not trying to find out who those bastards are, but realising that I have started to look at almost everyone with suspicions. WTH??!!

Too much had happened within just this one month, and I understand more than ever that life is never predictable. And whatever planned-ahead stuff usually never work out as how you expected. It's not me not being flexible, but the curveball that was thrown to me was sooooo curved that I couldn't even make out the path that it was travelling on, much less its destination.

But whatever it is, one thing I'm really glad that will not change is the love from family and friends. Thanks a lot, people.

So, goodbye 2008... I don't think I'll miss you much.

End Of 2008

The end of 2008 is here. Times really flies, I am moving on to my 30s soon, though I still cannot accept the fact, but I guess thats part of life. 2008 has been a year of many experiences for me, mostly bad ones.

Poor Judgement of Characters - More than 5 years in my work and though I am meeting new characters every now and then, it never struck me that there are more characters in this world than meets the eye.. I have met many kind souls, but 2008 has been one where I see quite a few evil ones.. Bad people who I will stay away from.. From the number of people I have seen this year, it really opened up my naive mind that there are more scheming people out there than I thought there are.. Hope I meet more kind souls in future.. :P

Economy Downturn Wordwide - the cycle predicted to come finally came and it came in one swift swoop, with major banking and financial companies all taking very massive blows that no one dares even think of whose next.. Hopefully, what and all that needed to happen, has happened and the World can move on from here.. Might have a few more minor hiccups and hopefully, by 2009, things can really get into the swing towards recovery.. Lesson learnt here, NOTHING in life is constant, things CHANGE.. and always expect the UNEXPECTED..

What have I achieved in 2008?? I think career wise, I maintained what I had in 2007, maybe a slight improvement, a good and healthy grow in general line of business, qualifying for a mini club.. :) Mind wise, I think I have to grow to think much more deeper and think further in the years ahead as I am getting older by the day.. Health wise, I better buck up, and cut down on supper, salty foods and try to get a little more exercise..

For me personally, 2008 would be a year to remember, for mostly the wrong things..

1. Credit Crunch leading to World Economy Downturn
2. Milk Poisoning scare
3. Singapore Flyer stops turning
4. F1 Night Race in Singapore
5. Manchester United clinching the League Champions, European Champions League and just recently, the World Club Cup in Japan.. :)
6. China Earthquake
7. Mumbai Terrorist killing Singaporean.
8. My trip to Shen Zhen that really open part of my mind and thinking.. Singapore is just so so small..

So much more to remember and so much more things to learn from..

To the cinema : Bolt

I quite like how the way this movie starts - with an ordinary dog thinking that he has extraordinary powers, but in fact, was all just due to the magic of television.


Then the story took a turn when Bolt got accidentally shipped off, far away from the fantasy Hollywood world that he is living in, and also away from his "person", Penny, whom he loves a lot.


So, as expected, Bolt was anxious to get back to Penny, and along the journey home, met some interesting characters - an abandoned but sarcastic cat, Mittens, and a TV-addict fat hamster, Rhino, which moves around in a ball.


It was also along this journey back to Penny that Bolt realised he was just an ordinary dog, and slowly came to terms with it with the help of Mittens and Rhino.



The quirky personalities of each character was funny and in fact, quite real. You will suddenly find yourself thinking someone around you behaves just like one of them. And the humour not only appeals to the kids, but to adults as well.

Shrimp Wontons

Recently bought a cookbook on offer from Popular bookstore. It was going at $9.90 for members, compared to the original price of $19.90. As I was reading through it, I was happy to see that most of the ingredients for the dishes can be bought quite easily. I started off with the shrimp wontons recipe, as I have been wanting to make wontons for some time.

Looking at my first attempt at making wontons all by myself, I am glad to say that they didn't turn out too bad. Though wrapping 26 wontons is quite tiring, it was quite an enjoyable process, except maybe for the slight crick on my shoulder after that. Heh.

I was planning to have the wonton with noodles and some vegetables. But seeing the amount that I had come up with, I decided to forgo the noodles and just have 13 wontons each with vegetables. Haha. And maybe because I haven't been cooking for some time, I decided to make the chicken stock (recipe below) myself too, instead of buying a can off the shelf.

Anyway, like I mentioned, I managed to come up with 26 wontons with only half of the stated amount of ingredients (I used 14 medium-sized shrimps) from the recipe. I'm not sure if the author uses bigger pieces of wrappers, or uses smaller shrimps. Just make sure that there are enough wrappers at hand if following the actual amount in the recipe.

Steamed Shrimp Wontons

24 servings

Ingredients :

- 2 egg whites

- 1 cup ground shrimp meat

- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

- 1/4 teaspoon Chinese five-spice

- 1/2 cup finely sliced scallions (spring onions)

- 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger

- 24 square wonton wrappers

Directions :

1) Lightly whisk the egg whites in a large bowl. Add the ground shrimp meat, sea salt, five-spice powder, scallions, and ginger. Stir to combine.

2) Put a heaping teaspoon of the filling mixture into the centre of the wonton wrapper and then seal the edges by moistening them with water, then bring the four corners together.

3) Put the wontons into a bamboo steamer basket lined with oiled waxed paper. Set the basket over a large saucepan of boiling water and steam for 10-12 minutes.

Note : Instead of steaming, I cook my wontons by dropping about 10 at a time into a pot of boiling chicken stock. Cook them for about 3-4 minutes, or until they float to the surface and you can see the pink of the shrimp. Then add in the vegetables, and let the stock reach a slow boil and it's done!

Homemade Chicken Stock

I didn't copy this specifically from anywhere. Instead, I searched through the Internet and YouTube and came up with somewhat I thought was the simplest chicken stock recipe, with a little snatch here and there. And I'm real happy to say that I was glad how the stock turned out, except that you have to add your own salt to taste later with whatever you are planning to cook it with.



Homemade Chicken Stock

Ingredients :

- I large onion, cut into chunks
- 2 stalks of celery (with the leaves), cut into thirds
- 2 carrots, unpeeled and cut into thirds
- about 550g of chicken bones, with any excess fats removed
- cool tap water

Directions :

1) Put all the ingredients into a large pot and filled it with cold tap water until everything is just under the water.

2) Bring to a boil at medium temperature. Clear away any froth that floats up to the surface after the stock boils.

3) Bring to a low temperature and simmer half-covered for another 2 - 3 hours. Remove excess fats if needed.

4) Let the stock cool for a few minutes before removing all the pieces of chicken bones and vegetables. Strain the stock through a strainer and discard the rest of the ingredients.

Note :
- If you are plan to make the extra stock for future use, be sure to store the unused stock in small quantities (about 3-4 cups).

- If you refrigerate the stock, it can last about 1 week. If you want to keep the stock for a longer time, freezing it can last up till 3 months.

(disclaimer : there is no guarantee about the storage period coz I just pass on what I have learnt online)

Virgin Blog Entry

This is my first time.. My first time posting a blog after being 'encouraged' to sign up a Gmail Account and start blogging.. As well as start posting comments / remarks on other people's blogs..

UFO

Merry X'mas, people! :)

To the cinema : Ip Man - 叶问

I didn't know about this movie until the husband said to me one day, "Hey, your Donnie Yen has a new movie coming up. Let's go watch it." I knew it had to be some kind of kung fu movie, or else the husband will never suggest to watch it.

There is something about Donnie Yen that makes him quite attractive, and I can't really explain what is it. Maybe it's his charisma, or the way he handles himself, or some kind of X-factor... this is a totally different kind of fantasy attraction that I have with Aaron Kwok and Takeshi Kaneshiro.


Anyway, there is honestly nothing much to say about this movie, as it is about the life story of the real Yip Man, which can be read from the summary. It's the fighting scenes that are the selling points of the movie, and the acting skills of the other seasoned actors. One can almost feel the fury, helplessness, sadness and desperation of each character just by the expressions on their faces and in their eyes. I think it's also a chance for Donnie Yen to show off his kung fu.

As it's been stated in some reports, there are already plans for the 2nd and 3rd sequels. I can't wait! Hope they do not fall under the jinx of "the-sequels-are-not-as-good-as-part-one".

Eh, I'm not a very good movie critic, am I?

The bone that started it all

I never thought I'd say this in my life... but... I miss work!!!

Ever since I got this unexplained swelling on my foot, I have been going on and off work for the past 3 weeks. Until I came back from Shen Zhen and the doctor sent me for an X-ray then we realised it was "a healing stress fracture in the shaft of the metatarsal bone of the third toe". And trust the husband to get excited over it coz he said David Beckham used to be injured in exactly the same place as well. But then, who in the right mind will be interested in having the same injury as David Beckham? I'd much prefer to have the same amount of money as he does.

Anyway, since that X-ray, I've been given 3 days MC, and had been to the hospital to see a bone specialist (whatever the medical name is), then been referred to another X-ray imaging centre to do MRI as the doctor said it was not clear from the X-ray film whether there is any infection or growth around the fracture.

It was already about 4:30pm (we left the house about 9:30am) when I was done with the almost $900 MRI and the husband was running out of patience, coz apparently the MRI took about 45 minutes and in that time, I had been "needled" 4 times in both arms as the doctor needed to inject some kind of liquid into the blood and my veins were not very co-operative with receiving the medication.

Anyway, hope the MRI turns out fine, and I can go back to work, to shopping soon. I can't stand being at home for too long, other than the fact that I can wake up late. I miss the craziness of the guys at work, I miss the gossips, I miss the food, I miss shopping!!!

Shen Zhen (5th - 10th Dec 2008) - afterthoughts...

Did you ever realise that whenever parents meet up with relatives whom they have not seen for quite some time, one of the first thing that they do is to throw out compliments at each other's children like the speed they are giving out flyers at the Orchard MRT tunnel? Comments like "wah, your daughter is so pretty", or "your son has the look of a big boss", blah blah. And when we, the children, are still feeling good over the positive comments, our parents will be the one who bring us back to earth with one single, arrow-straight-to-the-heart reply...

"Aiyah, not as pretty as your daughter. Look at mine, she put on so much weight leh."

And so it begins, for maybe the next 10 minutes or so, parents from both sides will try to make the other children sound like angels, while their own flesh and blood are just mere common mortals. As such, the following conversation will never ever happen :

the relative : "Wah, your son is so good-looking, and I heard that he is the boss of his own company. So capable."

the parent : "Yah, I know. I think he is getting better looking too. And yes, he is very capable. He has 30 employees working for him, and his company is one of the well-known brand in the industry."

This is the standard reply :
"No la, he still looks the same. Your son is the one who is more handsome. My son is just doing a small business, it's nothing compared to what your son is doing.

It also happens when people start to compliment one another, and the receiving party will try to play it down. I think it's the society we are brought up in. I myself also cannot be sure that I would not be doing it when I become a parent. I think it's a way not to make ourselves sound and appear too arrogant or proud. But I feel there should be a limit to it, to know when to stop. If we keep playing ourselves down too much, it will make us look stupid and ignorant instead of humble.

It really made me wondered what the Chinese relatives thought of us, especially HL, the husband and I. When we went for meals, there is always someone there to tell us what each dish contained, or the name of the vegetable, and then went on to try to explain where it came from. I understand that they are being courteous and maybe trying to help in case there are some things that we are not used to eating, but after some time, it is starting to make me feel as if they thought we just open our mouths to eat as long as there is food, without bothering to know what they are.

Also, they must think we are sadly deprived of rural lifestyle by asking different cousins to send us to pick strawberries. I mean, you will want to be able to recall that one and only experience as being fun and thrilling, rather than remembering as being forced to go for it all the time. We were being asked to go strawberry picking 3 times in the 2 days we were at their place. And when the daughter-in-law mentioned that she had never been to a strawberry farm once, one of the uncle just shrugged it off, never asking her if she wanted to join us even though she was seated at the same table.

They are also very proud of their heritage and it seems strange to them that being married to a 100% pure Teochew husband, I haven't mastered the dialect yet. They also do not seemed understand that, especially the older generations, though I do not speak Teochew, I do know what they were saying most of the time. But they still talked to HL or the husband and want them to translate, with me just standing right beside them. Maybe to their way of thinking, to know the dialect means to be able to speak it coz it is your roots, and why am I not learning it since I am married into a Teochew family?

I do admire their loyalty and deep sense pride for being Teochews, but it can seem a little unkind to make fun of your other family members who do not understand the dialect. There is a son-in-law and a daughter-in-law in the family who do not understand Teochew, and once in a while, the uncles will say something about them to the others in the dialect, then turned to ask them if they understand. And before they could answer, the uncles will start to laugh among themselves, not bothering to explain what was just being said.

It seems quite rude to be doing such a thing, especially so if the person is a family member. You will want the person to feel that he/she belongs to the family, whether he/she knows the common dialect or not, instead of making him/her feel inadequate. This person also has his/her own roots, which just happens to be different from the family. And if you are a family, you are a family, it doesn't matter what dialect or language you speak, or whether you understand the dialect or language.

I might be accused of being over-sensitive, rude and unappreciative, and that I have no right to decide how people should think. But hey, you do remember it's my blog, ya?

Shen Zhen (5th - 10th Dec 2008) - what I do...

Strawberry picking

Apparently, it is the strawberry season in Shen Zhen now. So, being the city kids as we were, our cousin-in-law decided to bring us to a strawberry farm to experience the picking of strawberries.

Each of us took a basket and off we went to the field to pick all the blushing red fruits we could find. There was no limit as to the amount we can pick, or how long we can wander around the field. Once done with the picking, some workers will weigh them and charge accordingly. However, the ones we picked were still not as comparable to the ones the experienced uncles and cousins picked from another farm.

One would think that Singaporeans have never seen or eaten strawberries before when they gave us two boxes, about 60-70 in each. And the best thing is, besides being really fresh and sweet, each box cost only RMB60, which converts to about S$12. I think we have eaten enough strawberries within the 5 days for the next 6 months, and they were not sour as what we would usually get from the supermarkets.

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To Hong Kong

I know what you are thinking: Didn't this woman just went to Hong Kong in June? Yes, I did. But the husband and I didn't mind going again. He missed the wonton noodles and the char siew rice, HL thought to go on a shopping spree, and I wanted to do both. Haha.

So, we took a train from Lao Jie station in Shen Zhen to Luo Hu station, which is where the customs to Hong Kong is. The whole journey, including the custom checks, took about 2 hours. It was quite an experience to travel in this way, and you need the stamina and leg muscles to endure the 1-hour standing journey. I might have enjoyed it more if not for my injured foot.

As expected, due to the seasonal changes in Hong Kong, there were not much clothes to buy, and nothing much to shop for either. Majority were selling cold wear, much to HL's disappointment. So, we ended up stuffing our faces with food... wonton noodles, the famous Hui Lau Shan desserts, char siew rice, soy chicken rice, porridge and you tiao, dim sum at Sweet Dynasty.

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Shopping at Luohu (罗湖)

We decided to explore the famous Luohu district since the hotel we were staying at is in the area. We were planning to just have a quick walk around, but when we turned the corner away from the quiet street of our hotel, we were surprised to see a whole different place.

It was not exactly Orchard Road shopping, but more like walking along the different shops in Toa Payoh central. Although there seems to be a lot of shops at the first glance, after a while, we realised that almost every alternate shop sells similar stuff, like shoes, clothes and bags, with almost similar designs for majority too, except maybe for the shop names. The only different thing that we do not see in Singapore is the selling of puppies, where the sellers managed to put three tiny puppies of totally different breeds into a shoe box for sale.

Shen Zhen (5th - 10th Dec 2008) - what I see...

I have been thinking about how to summarise this Shen Zhen trip. It's more of a "get-to-know-your-family" trip for my husband and sister-in-law (HL) as we went to visit my father-in-law's brothers and sister living over there. Since it was also my very first "visit my overseas relatives" trip, I didn't really have much expectations. But still, there were things to be shared...

Before we even landed in Shen Zhen, there was already some bit of action on the budget airline we were travelling in. Anyway for HL, the husband and myself, we decided that this shall be the first and last time we are travelling on a budget airline. Call us pampered or spoilt or whatever, but we are never ever going to sit in that tiny space with my knees practically pressing to the back of the seat in front of me, and those to-and-fro 6 hours plus flight time were most likely the only time I felt myself sitting so upright in my entire life.

Anyway, back to the story. Please refer to the picture below.


The husband and I were seated at 24D and 24E, and this uncle and was sitting behind his kids at 23C. Sometime along the way, he started to play with his kids by pushing and pulling their seats front and back, which we were sure that he did forcefully, in another words, spoiling the mechanics of the seats. This was only the "lead-in".

The "main show" happens when we were approaching landing time, when we were supposed to get the seats upright. I didn't know what came over him, maybe he was soooo excited to be taking the budget airline for the very first time in his entire life, he started to hold back onto the foldable table edge to prevent his son from pulling his seat upright. Then we heard a "pop" and hello, the table just popped down and the pin or whatever it is securing the table was bent outwards. The uncle could still laugh and turned to the person beside him to say something while trying to secure the table back. But it didn't seemed to work that well. Just when he thought he got it secured, the table popped right down when the plane started to descend.


To the Uncle wearing glasses with a white polo top with squared patterns, at seat 23C on flight TR952, leaving Singapore on 5th Dec 2008 at 1915hrs to Shen Zhen : We saw, we remembered, we shared.



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The place where my father-in-law's sister is staying at is like a privatised area, with their own entry gate and private guard house, except that the area and the number of buildings in the area is much much more than what we have as a private condo area here.

According to their building code, or whatever it is called, only buildings with 9 or more floors are allowed to have lifts at each storey. So, with their block at only 8 stories high, we have to climb up and down the stairs so many times that I have lost count. And it didn't help that they are staying on the 5th floor and my stupid foot was starting to hurt again.

Anyway, my father-in-law said he was considering to go and stay there, which I felt was not too bad a place for retirement. Even though the apartments were a symbol of modernisation, the feel about the place is still very laid back and relaxed. Neighbours were out chit-chatting with one another while the kids play with one another, and they even brought tables to play cards and mahjong outdoors.

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The place where my father-in-law's youngest brother is staying, is the older, typical Chinese houses, where we entered into a open courtyard and then on one side is the living room and bedrooms, and the opposite side is the kitchen area. It's not as big as those shown in movies, just a humble little house, with their water supply coming from underground.

時光機 - 周杰倫

The boy from my past

Click here to access website

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with this fellow here. But I was really excited to see the books for sale at Harris. The stories were set in the school and around classmates, a little like Totto-Chan, except that one was in France, the other in Japan, and Nicholas was much more mischevious than Totto-Chan.

I remember the first time I got to know Nicholas was through my father. The stories were translated in Chinese instead of English as sold in the bookstores now. I forgot where he got the book from, but I could still remember it was light blue in colour, with a drawing of Nicholas and his classmates on the cover. My father has been encouraging my sisters and I to read Chinese books since young and I was glad he got Nicholas' story for me as it was one of the most fun and enjoyable book I've ever came across. Here is a story taken from one of the books.

Misunderstood

Sweetened condensed milk cake

Yeah! Finally I can safely say that my tiny 8" x 10" (rough estimate) conventional oven toaster can be used for baking. Well, it's not that I don't know that my oven toaster can bake (I did bake cookies with it before), it's just that I was quite skeptical about it when it comes to cakes. I was quite prepared for the first attempt to end up in a totally unedible disaster.

So, imagine my excitement when I peered through the oven door and saw that the cake was rising quite beautifully, if you disregard the slightly lopsided-ness of it. And it took a surprisingly short time to cook, about 30 minutes. I always thought that a cake will take up most of the day preparing and baking. It was the cooling down part that took a long time. I lost count of the times I went to check if it was ready to be turned out of the pan during the 3 plus hours that the cake took to cool down completely.

Despite the use of condensed milk, the cake was not too sweet. And quite edible too, I must say. :) The husband said it was not too bad for a first attempt, while BT said it was ok, but he would not encourage me to bring for my in-laws to taste, when I mentioned about it. Hmmm.

Anyway, it was not too bad for the taste. In fact, it tasted a bit like the Sara Lee cakes, just a teeny bit. But the texture was not as light and spongy as I expected, it somehow reminded me of the Chinese Huat Kuay (发糕) as I bit into it. I was not sure what went wrong, and the husband mentioned that I might not have "mix" enough air into the batter. So, he was quite enthusiastic to help me bake another one later. :)

Sweetened condensed milk cake (recipe from here)

Ingredients :
- 1 can (395g) sweetened condensed milk
- 4 eggs
- 120g all purpose flour
- ½ tablespoon baking powder
- 50g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- icing sugar, for dusting

Directions :
1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; generously butter a 22cm (9 in) ring cake pan.

2. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until risen and a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.

3. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely before unmolding.Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Note : I used a 20cm (8 in) pan, and my cake took about 30 minutes to bake.

小酒窝 - 林俊杰／蔡卓妍

Don't give me crap!

If YOU want me to help with the work, just say so.
If YOU want me to attend any work-related functions, just say so.
Do not give excuses about my needing to be around is becoz of requests from the higher authority, when we both know that it was YOU, and only YOU all along.
It makes me feel stupid, and it makes YOU look stupid.

2009 Public Holidays

A lot of long weekends... good year to plan for short getaways... heh...
(click to get a larger image)

Tomato Spinach and Basil Soup

Had been "eyeing" this recipe for quite some time, and I finally managed to give it a try tonight. Looking back at my blog entries, it had been quite a while since I last cook. Since it's already the school holidays, I hope I'll have more time to try out the other few recipes that I've bookmarked.

Anyway, back to the soup. I almost didn't want to continue with it coz I was tearing like crazy while cutting up the big onion. I was only cutting up one half before my eyes started to sting, and I hadn't begun chopping it yet! But having bought all the ingredients and missing lunch, I just had to endure. It was almost as bad as being in a temple full of the smoke from the joss sticks and it all gets into your eyes. So, the onion ended up in cubes instead of being chopped as stated. (that's why you can see chunks of it from the picture)

One thing to note, as you would likely read from the reviews of the others from the original recipe, is that the onions need to be cooked much longer than 3 minutes to soften it. Also, if you prefer smooth and creamy soup to which you can swallow instead of having to chew, you can take an extra step to blend it in a food processor before serving.

Tomato Spinach and Basil Soup
4 servings

Ingredients :

- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree (do your conversion here)
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 2 cups fresh spinach, torn
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Directions :

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic for 3 minutes. Stir in milk and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomato puree and sugar. Mix well, cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Add spinach, basil, salt and pepper and simmer, uncovered, for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese, if desired.

Tan Hong Ming

This is sooooo cute!!!

Curry of Love...

.... made by the grandmother of one of my tuition kid. I was quite surprised when she handed me the packed bowl of hot, steamy curry when I was about to leave. I have been giving tuition for so many years, no doubt some parents had made sandwiches, or bought snacks for me to eat, but this was the first time that I actually got a homemade meal to bring home. I'm not sure why, but it kind of made me miss my late ah mah...

Photo fun!

Check out what you can do with your pictures from this site! :)

Dark and white chocolate cookies

I know what you are thinking, "where on earth is the white chocolate?". Before I reveal the answer, I need to show you what I had envisioned when I decided to make this cookie - here it is.

Looks fabulous, right? Ok, ok... stop comparing that picture with mine here, I know both are completely worlds apart. I was not too sure what kind of white chocolate to use, so I got the Cadbury white chocolate. But after baking, the white chocolate was 'burnt'.

I guess I should have gotten the white chocolate for baking and not the normal one. But luckily, they didn't taste that bad, just a little on the sweet side. So for the following batches, I stuck the white chocolates in between the cookies.

Since there was a family gathering over the weekend, I brought all the cookies over and let them try. My uncle was quite the supporter, and even gave them another name, 牛粪饼 = cow dung biscuits. Though it might sound disgusting, there was somehow a sense of "rightness" to it when my uncle said it in Teochew. Haha.

Dark and white chocolate chunk cookies

Ingredients :

- 2 2/3 cups bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chunks, divided
- ¼ cup (½ stick/57g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup (88g) packed golden brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (105g) self-rising flour
- 3 ½ oz (98g) high-quality white chocolate, very coarsely chopped

Directions :

1) Preheat oven to 175ºC/350ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2) Stir 2 cups chocolate chunks with butter in heavy small saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth; cool 10 minutes.

3) Beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until well blended. In low speed, beat in melted chocolate mixture and vanilla, then flour. Stir in remaining 2/3 cup chocolate chips; let stand 10 minutes – this is a very important step, since the dough is fluid and won’t set until the chocolate cools.

4) Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing cookies 2 inches (5cm) apart. Press white chocolate pieces into top of cookies, dividing equally.

5) Bake until cookies look puffed and slightly dry on top, about 13 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets, then carefully peel them off the paper using a wide metal spatula.

A little over a decade

The husband just reminded me that we have been together for about 150 months as of today.

Wow.

Baked Chicken and Carrot Porridge

Because of the opened pack of chicken stock which had to be used up within 7 days, I went through my collected stack of recipes and found one from Simply Her magazine, which will not only make use of all the stock, and is easy to cook as well. Since I didn't like to deal with chicken bits with bones still attached, I used chicken fillets instead of the stated chicken thighs.

Baked Chicken & Carrot Porridge

4 servings

Ingredients :

- 3 chicken thighs
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup white rice, washed
- 3 shallots, chopped
- 2 carrots, cubed
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp pepper
- spring onions, chopped, for garnish

Directions :
1) Pre-heat oven to 175 deg C. De-bone and remove the chicken skin. Set the meat aside and wash the bones with hot water.

2) Place the chicken bones into a pot of water with the chicken stock. Add the rice and shallots and boil for 30 mins on medium heat. Turn off the heat when a porridge consistency forms.

3) While the porridge is cooking, marinate the chicken and carrots with dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt and pepper. Bake for 20 mins.

4) Remove chicken from the oven and slice into pieces, then place on top of the porridge with the carrots. Garnish with spring onions.

To the cinema : Mamma Mia!

It should be about 5 to 6 years since Mamma Mia! musical came to Singapore. I could still remember how it was like in the Esplanade theatre, the atmosphere was highly charged and I could feel the pent-up energy of the people around me, trying hard to curb the urge to just jump up from the seats and dance along to the familiar and groovy ABBA songs. But being Singaporeans, we obediently stayed in our seats, not wanting to be the odd one out and risked people saying that we “action, action only” behind our backs. However, I’m sure that inside, everyone was imagining themselves up and about dancing and singing along to the songs. Well at least for me, my foot suddenly had a will of its own and started to tap along to “Dancing Queen”.

So, imagine my excitement when I realized that Hollywood had taken the musical and made it into a movie. Yun, Qing and I made a date to watch it together since the guys are totally not interested.

Honestly, the storyline for Mamma Mia! is not very strong. I believe it’s the lure of ABBA hits and how each song is cleverly injected throughout the plot that made it such a hit. It seems like each song is suited just for that moment of the story as it goes along. I wondered if the producers thought of the storyline first, then decide to use ABBA songs? Or did they thought of the story while going through the list of ABBA hits?

Anyway, if you are more of the movie fan than a musical fan, this is not the movie for you. Most of the acts are more theatrical-like, e.g. chasing one another among the trees, 3 middle-aged women jumping on the bed, and then the whole village singing and dancing together, etc.

Well, it would be quite unfair to compare with the musical as each has its own plus and minus points. It's the live performance vs actual scenery, professional musical cast vs all-star Hollywood cast. But personally, I much preferred the actual musical, even though the ticket may cost about 14 times more, and we had to squint our eyes to see how the performers look like, nothing beats hearing live singing and feeling the lively energy from the stage as well as the people around you.

- Mamma Mia! homepage

- Mamma Mia! movie official site

Chicken Stew

It wasn't every weekday that I could muster up enough strength and self-motivation to cook after working for the whole day. But somehow, I was feeling the urge to cook something tonight when the husband mentioned that he would be home for dinner. So, I quickly went through my collected recipes, those that I had marked as "must-try", and found this Chicken Stew recipe which I had torn out from a 2006 issue of Simply Her magazine.

However, when I got to the NTUC, I realised that there weren't anymore potatoes and large onions. In the end, I had to make do with just carrots in the stew. Luckily, the carrots maintained their sweetness after the simmer and the stew was delicious.

Chicken Stew
(4 servings)

Ingredients :

- 1 kg chicken, cut into bite-size pieces (for added flavour, marinate with 1 tablespoon of Hua Tiao wine)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 2 large onions, cut into wedges
- 3 large carrots, cut into cubes
- 4 potatoes, cut into cubes
- 500-700 ml of stock/water
- 1 tablespoon parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

Directions :
1) Mix flour with 1 teaspoon salt, pepper and ground spices. Coat chicken pieces with the seasoned flour.

2) Heat oil and butter in a pot and fry the onions until fragrant.

3) Add chicken pieces and fry till lightly browned.

4) Add stock, carrots and potatoes and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes until chicken and vegetables are tender.

Some modifications I did :
- I left the chicken to marinate in Hua Tiao wine while I cut up the carrots and prepare the flour mixture. (I did a rough gauge since it was not mentioned for how long should we marinate the chicken)
- I used the chinese five-spice powder instead of the ground cinnamon and nutmeg as stated.
- Instead of just simmering for 15 minutes, I did mine for about 30 minutes and the chicken was still quite tender.

Shrimp Fried Rice

As the few previous fried rice meals we had were with luncheon meat and eggs, I thought it a change of ingredients this time might be good. So I bought some shrimps and a small cabbage as an alternative to the usual luncheon meat, and they were sort of a healthier choice too.

Anyway, I didn't really follow any recipe for this dish, so the following is just a rough guideline, especially for the amount of cooking oil and salt to use, is all up to the individual.

Shrimp Fried Rice

Ingredients :

- Cooked leftover rice, for 2

- 10 medium-sized shrimps, shelled and deveined

- 2 eggs (I used 3 coz I like my fried rice to be more "eggy")

- about half of a small cabbage, cut into strips

- garlic, chopped

- black pepper (optional)

- salt to taste

- cooking oil

Directions :

1) Heat some oil in a frying pan and toss in the cabbage. Stir-fry the cabbage for about 2 minutes, add in about 2 tablespoons of water, then put on the cover for the vegetable to cook.

2) When the cabbage has softened, add in a dash of salt, stir a bit and remove from the pan. (I try not to keep too much of the liquid left behind by the cabbage.)

3) Cook the shrimps. (Optional : you can sprinkle some black pepper over them as they cook.) When the shrimps just about turn pink, remove from the pan. Do not overcook the shrimps here as they will be cooked again when added to the rice later.

4) Again, heat some oil in the frying pan and toss in the garlic. Stir-fry till fragrant and slightly browned, then add in the eggs. Stir the eggs so that they look scrambled, and when the yolk is firm but slightly runny, add in the rice. Try to ensure that the eggs are evenly spread out over the rice.

5) Leave the rice to cook for a while until you can see the some of the rice "dancing", then toss again for a few times before adding in the cabbage and the shrimps. Add salt to taste.

You can refer to here for more detailed instructions for the fried rice, as well as some tips to make your fried rice taste better.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred

This list has been going around cyberspace for quite some time. Created by the author of Very Good Taste (VGT), he believes that as an omnivore, the following are some of the things that we should not miss out.

However, due to the different cultures and/or beliefs, there may be some foods that we cannot eat, or have never heard before. But no worries, like what VGT had done, I'll be linking them through Wikipedia for further explanations.

Here's what you can do :

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at the original The VGT Omnivore's Hundred linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare (no raw meat for me)
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (most likely will be too spicy for me)
27. Dulce de leche (next on my recipe-to-try list)
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam Chowder in Sourdough Bowl (not in a Sourdough Bowl though)
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (maybe without the fat cigar...)
37. Clotted Cream Tea
38. Vodka Jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail (does drinking the soup counts?)
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal (another one that might be too spicy for me too)
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth $120 or more
46. Fugu (I know it's most likely safe... but still, no thanks...)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain (can I take it as goreng pisang?)
70. Chitterlings or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini (how about just the blini without the caviar?)
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost or brunost
75. Roadkill (if it's cooked and I'm unaware of its origin)
76. Baijiu (烧酒)
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang Souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom Yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky (strawberry-flavour... yum!)
84. 3 Michelin Star Tasting Menu (oooh... might never get a chance this lifetime)
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare (maybe, maybe not)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox (bagel only)
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee (hmmm... where can I get to try this locally?)
100. Snake

My score : 21 / 100

I'm sure if there is a chance to travel more around the world, I would be able to eat more than these.

Linguine with Shrimp and Basil

After 2 weeks of reservist, the husband mentioned that he felt like having some shrimp pasta and salmon. I was also craving for some pasta myself. So, I decided to cook something fast and simple. The following recipe was based on a creamy sauce shrimp pasta. But the husband doesn't like cream sauce, so I modified it some.

Linguine with Shrimp and Basil

Ingredients:

- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- linguine for two
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
- 8 large shrimp - peeled and deveined
- 1 can Italian-style diced tomatoes, drained
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1 teaspoon chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- Parmesan cheese, for serving
- salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of slightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente, about 7 - 8 minutes. Place pasta in a colander, and give it a quick rinse with cold water.

2. Heat butter in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic, stirring constantly, until the garlic is tender, about 1 minute. Do not let the garlic burn.

3. Stir tomatoes, wine, parsley, and basil into the skillet. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced by half, 7 to 10 minutes. Add shrimp, and continue cooking until the shrimp turned pink, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Serve the shrimp mixture over the pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.