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.

Baked Salmon (II)

Baked Salmon (II) (from : allrecipes)

Ingredients:

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 6 tablespoons light olive oil

- 1 teaspoon dried basil

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 1 teaspoon ground blackpepper

- 1 tablespoon lemon juice

- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley,chopped

- 2 (6 ounce) fillets salmon

Directions:

1.In a medium glass bowl, prepare marinade by mixing garlic, light olive oil, basil, salt, pepper, lemon juice and parsley. Place salmon fillets in a medium glass baking dish, and cover with the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator about 1 hour, turning occasionally.

2.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

3.Place fillets in aluminum foil, cover with marinade, and seal. Place sealed salmon in the glass dish, and bake 35 to 45 minutes, until easily flaked with a fork.

Almost there!

A colleague had organised a blood donation drive in the school and we are encouraged to have a go at it if we meet the "requirements". I had always thought that, by being underweight, I cannot donate blood. But apparently, I was wrong. It is not the weight and height ratio form of underweight. One is considered underweight and unsuitable for blood donation if he/she is under 45kg. So, having put on at least 5 kg in the almost 3 years since getting married, I decided to donate blood for the very first time in my life.

So, after filling up the form, and passed the next 2 "tests" with flying colours (the doctor's interview, and having the correct amount of haemoglobin balance), I was mentally prepared to be "poked and prodded" by some thick needle. Actually the thought of being pricked by needle was not as great as the worry that I might feel faint (or might really faint) after the donation.

But somehow, the appropriate veins needed are not "available" on both my arms. My right arm does not show the veins at all, while there is one on my left arm, but according to the nurse, it is too fine to do the donation. There is a risk of puncturing the vein with the needle. According to the nurse, my arms do not have enough exercise and she recommended me to do some weight-lifting, or similar sort of exercise to make the veins more visible.

It was kind of disappointing to having miss this experience, knowing that the blood might actually help someone in the future. But I have to admit that there was also a tiny sense of relief that I do not have to go through the sticking of the needle and having it in me for 10 minutes.

However, if there is another chance, I will certainly go for it again. :)

Auntie tips (16)

Tip 1:
To remove stinky smells from a container, place crumpled newspaper inside, close the lid and leave for the few days. Then wash as usual.

Tip 2:
To keep a vacuum flask odour-free, fill half the flask with vinegar, hot water and pieces of egg shells. Leave overnight, then wash with detergent.

Tip 3:
To get rid of fishy smells after handling seafood, wash your hands with salt.

Tip 4:
Place a dry scented tea bag under the mouth piece of the telephone to eliminate unwanted odours.

From : Simply Her - Aug 2007

PES Spaghetti

Check out this stop motion film by PES.

Found!

Recognise this fella? It could well be one of the most popular icon ever used in Tecent QQ and MSN. I had saved a whole bunch of them for my MSN, and even set a few of them as commonly-used short-cut keys. I see it dancing away on my MSN chatting windows almost daily, and never failed to perk me up despite its constant deadpan expression. It has even earned itself an entry in Wikipedia, and has also been appearing in certain Motorola mobile phone ads. But do you know its name and the owner?

Meet Tzuki.


Its owner is Wang Mao-Mao, a student from the Beijing Broadcasting Institute of Animation. To know more about the artist, or to get to know Tzuki better, or maybe you want to see more Tzukis dancing for you, here is the original blog in Chinese, and here is the English-translated blog.

It kind of reminds me of Mashimaro who took the world by storm a few years back. What is it about bunnies with attitudes that had managed to capture so much attention?

Flying in the rain

Thanks to my generous Uncle Martin, I got to take the famous Singapore Flyer for free yesterday. But no thanks to the weather, we only got a quick glance around as the capsule sets off, then it was rain, rain and more rain.

Super heavy rain. (and with some red and white balloons stuck to the wheel, most probably leftovers from the NDP on Saturday)

Buildings in Shenton Way

The floating platform

The Marina Barrage

I'm not sure if you can see clearly from the picture, but according to the guide with us in the capsule, he said that the exterior wall of the Conrad Hotel actually showed a number "13" (circled in red). I didn't managed to catch all the explanation, but the gist of it was that it had something to do with the Cantonese pronounciation of 13, which is actually meant to be good for business.

A miniature model of the upcoming IR

I thought it was good to have a guide to explain all that we were seeing from the capsule. It was all in all, quite a good experience (minus the rain and the ticket price). I'm sure it would be even better when the IRs are up, which I highly suspect that the ticket price will follow "up" as well.

A pity that it was pouring yesterday, and that we couldn't really see too far. But if there's anyone who is kind enough to sponsor me for another trip when the weather is good, I don't mind going again. Heh.

Ice Cream Cake

Don't be misled by the title of this dessert. It doesn't require you to make the ice-cream from scratch. It's more of like mixing whatever that you like with pure vanilla ice-cream, that's all. Simple, right? :)

I actually followed half of the stated ingredients, and for the other half, used whatever I liked. I was thinking of using chocolate biscuits as stated, but found this instead.

I have never eaten this before, but it looks good, and I thought it will go well with ice-cream. I sneaked one as I was making it and it tasted good. :) I guess the warning stated on the package saying "Highly Addictive", is quite true.

I got the rough guide of how to do it from a Youtube video of Nigella

Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients :

- 1.5 litres of vanilla ice-cream, softened

- a Crunchy bar

- 150g chocolate biscuits

- 200g chocolate chips / white chocolate chips

- 100g honey-coated peanuts

Directions :

1. Put the Crunchy bar and chocolate biscuits together and bash them up.

2. Mix in the ice-cream, chocolate chips and peanuts and stir all together.

3. Line a tin with cling wrap. Then pour the well-mixed ice-cream into the container.

4. Put the mixture into the freezer.