P.S. I...

Gingery, lemony cheesecake...I liked the bits of ginger in the cake. Hmm, but not really sure if it's worth the fourteen bucks :P

Had lunch with Mark and Derrick at PS Cafe (Palais) last weekend. I remember XF asking me to check out that cafe at Palais some time back. Agree that the ambience's great, a wonderful place to spend a lazy afternoon or have a good long chat with friends. I have always loved to look at those fresh flowers on display, they actually took the effort to take care of the floral arrangement in the cafe. Those flowers never fail to remind me of changing seasons :) Hmm, food's alright but I thought abit on the "high" side. And I also prefer the menu at Dempsey. Pretty attentive service I had from the staff that day. Well, I guess I will be back there again but maybe just coz of the ambience...P.S. I will be back :P

Goldie or Chow

At the pet shop...the Golden Retriever costs S$3500 and the Chow Chow costs S$3800... As I looked at those 3-month old puppies through the glass panels, I really had a strong urge to buy one of them and bring one home. Hmm, I guess in owning a pet, maybe it's not so much about the price of it but the responsibility and commitment to these little darlings for as long as they live...Well, I guess it's 'window shopping' for me for the time being in that pet shop.

Sayur lodeh

Cabbage, long beans, turnip, carrots, panfried tau kwa...

Easy to cook and delicious!

I am so glad those weeks of intensive lessons for this month have finally come to an end. Was it me or the programme? Inter-semestral modules really drained every bit of my energy. I have still got a couple of assignments to complete - the aftermath of inter-semestral modules if I could call it. July may also be another challenging month for me. Hey silly, why am I talking about my studies? Ha, this is certainly not the focus right now in this blog post. I gonna cast that aside for the time being :P....The kitchen is a place I like to go to whenever I feel like taking a break from all those readings and assignments or when I really feel the urge to cook. Taking a walk in a supermarket and looking at the variety of food never fails to create that urge to cook. That box of Prima Taste's sayur lodeh has been left in our food cabinet for quite some time and I think it's certainly time to 'showcase' it. Enjoyed preparing the ingredients and liked the taste of the final product. One thing I have noticed about myself is that I had kinda read the instructions on the box many times, I think I have a problem with instructions at times :P

Handsome baby!

The fur's gone! Ha, I think the grooming session has left baby kinda 'botak' but that charm in him certainly stays, especially the charm from that pair of endearing eyes :) Thanks Mark for the pic :)

Dinner with my parents

My father is more adventurous as compared to my mummy when it comes to food. But one commonality between them would be they are never fussy or particular about food. I think for my parents, simplicity is defined in its simplest form when food is concerned. They don't really splurge on what goes into their mouths :P ...But they always do not hesitate when it comes to splurging on healthy food for their children :) Today, I realised that of all the meals we have had all these years, I could hardly recall having a Japanese meal with my parents. I suggested having Japanese food for dinner today. My father wanted somewhere near home so we headed to Serangoon Gardens and were hoping that it wouldn't be that crowded. Hmm, from my observation, Fathers' Day seemed not as much celebrated as Mothers' Day, I wonder why? But then again, do we always need a day to remind us how great our fathers or mothers are? Ha, Japanese food is still not Mummy's cup of tea but I thought my father kinda enjoyed the salmon head, me too! :P

The glass of water...half full or half empty

Of course I look at the glass half full. The only time I would look at it half empty is when I think about how good the first half tasted. ~ Drew Deyoung

Burgers anyone?

Never underestimate Shirley's ability to eat and how much she could eat. She has got the biggest burger among us. She ordered "The Works Burger" and I think she really enjoyed it, the burger works!

Edmond's chicken caesar burger...sounds kinda ordinary but I thought the taste went beyond ordinary

Duck confit burger...the meat was really tender and the ingredients were fresh, loved every bit of my burger! Certainly a place I will go back to for burgers :P

Edmond's peanut butter with banana shake...so sinful yet enticing. Had a sip, real rich and yummy!

Met up for dinner with Shirley and Edmond over a couple of interesting burgers on Monday, had a long chat as usual. And of course, the night wouldn't be complete without dessert :P

Sunny baby was sick and I was busy

Sunny baby had tummy upset and vomited last weekend. Apparently, he was pretty down and moody. Poor baby, sick and not able to express what's exactly wrong...But was glad to know that he was his usual self the following day after a visit to the vet and two jabs :P ...This June has been kinda hectic for me with classes regularly and classes that would last for the whole day. It was really tiring having to attend classes and prepare for tutorials (thank goodness, I have a study group). Well, not forgetting the completion of group assignments due next week. Okie, silly gal, stop whining, whining is not gonna get you anywhere, you have just gotta keep going...

A rolling good time making rolls

I thought I should create a sauce on top of those rolls so mixed some sauces and seasoning together in the heated saucepan, thickened it and added wolfberries. I think I had added too many wolfberries :P My weakness has always been the sauce. The sauce created seemed hmm...just not good enough. But I thought the rolls were good on its own. Maybe could create a Thai dip instead, hmm, consisting of maybe fish sauce with chopped chilli padi (red and green) :P

After steaming, I waited for the rolls to cool before cutting them into smaller rolls :P Wow, was satisfied with the outcome...bai cai was not torn, everything neat and nice :)

I rolled the bai cai with the layer of meat and fish paste and placed them in the steamer to steam for about 9 minutes.

Mixed minced pork with fish paste and added some seasoning and spread a layer on the bai cai

Bai cai...blanched in boiling water, laid out to cool

Hmm, has this blog become kinda a personal recipe blog? Well, I am no chef, not even a cook I would say but sometimes I like to look at how others cook and then adapt some of the ideas for my own cooking. I love to try new self-created recipes. The kitchen is kinda like my experimenting laboratory where successes and failures occurred. Sometimes, when new ideas struck me, I just knew I needed to give it a shot in the kitchen. Was a little apprehensive about trying out this dish yesterday, was kinda lacking in confidence but was still hopeful that maybe it wouldn't be that disastrous at the end of the attempt :P Well, my parents came home and saw what I had prepared and Mummy asked where I had bought that plate of rolls. Hee, I was really beaming with pride :)

The remains of that piggy

The past week had been kinda tiring with full day classes and coping with a number of tasks for tutorials and group assignments. Nevertheless, still try to and want to find time to prepare dinner. Cooking can be therapeutic, well, at least to me. The leftover suckling pig was finally 'dealt with' that evening. Removed the bones, shredded the meat, had lotsa ginger shredded too, not forgetting lotsa garlic. I guess it's stir fry shredded pork (leftover piggy from our family dinner at Hua Ting) with ginger and garlic. It really smelt great in the frying pan! Add some spring onions and Chinese celery to complete the whole dish. I thought it's delicious with porridge, love every spoonful of porridge with pork and shredded ginger on top!

Tired...exhausted...drained

The inter-semestral modules are really tiring me out...fatigued beyond words today...

Angry?

Didi brought back the darnest soft toys...there's no exception this time again. I feel like reconstructing the facial features of this angry bird, kekeke :P

A family dinner...A family reunion

We had a late dinner at Hua Ting (Orchard Hotel). I think the last time we were there was in 2009. I just came back from a holiday trip in Europe then and was really too tired to take pics of the food there. Well, but I must say the food is still as great as ever. Service's really wonderful too!

I think the wonderful thing about our dessert was that they were not too sweet and ingredients were all real fresh. The skin of this pancake was real crispy and not oily at all. The red bean paste in between wasn't too sweet too.

Dessert...My father ordered these. They were kinda like muah chee but the filling was black sesame. I think we tried these the previous time we ate at this restaurant. Well, quality and taste are still as good as ever...

The meat of the little piggy was used for our noodles. We brought home another portion of leftover meat, would be good for fried rice or stir fry noodles I guess.

This beef dish is really beautifully done...simply could not stop at just one piece.

Soon Hock...fresh and I always wonder the kinda seasoning that goes into steaming a fish, the HK style of steaming.

Asparagus with garlic...we kept discussing how these are cooked coz they are really yummy.

The piggy's skin is delicious, nicely roasted, not oily and the fats beneath the skin were all removed. But I thought I prefer Peking duck to suckling pig. Hmm, felt funny seeing that little piggy being sacrificed and being served on the plate...maybe I need to rethink the kinda meat I should be eating.

Didi's piggy...Didi - the carnivore

I cooked lunch again!

Not in the mood to read but was in the mood to cook. Hmm, should I say it's Italian or should it be fusion? But anyway, I just cooked the way I liked it to be. Well, the kinda ingredients available in the refrigerator and the food cabinet was also a consideration I guess. Ingredients...red capsicum, shredded meat, straw mushrooms, carrots, onions and garlic. Sauce...Prego pasta sauce. Pasta...finished the 'hor fun' from the previous time I cooked lunch, still like the texture of it, think I should go buy another packet :P A sunny side up on top of the pasta certainly brightened up the whole one-meal dish and completed the whole look of it all :) Only Didi was home that afternoon, prepared enough pasta or should I say more than enough for both of us. I have a habit of preparing too much food, something that Mummy always nagged at me for coz she doesn't like food to be kept overnight and doesn't encourage wastage of food too. Maybe I do have some issues with measurement and quantity :P

Ginger!

The product after steaming! The ingredients and gravy made the chicken kinda tasty but somehow feel that something seemed to be missing in the taste. But nevertheless, I had so much of the ginger that my tummy felt a little warm on the inside :P

I bought some chicken wings and spread a layer of the ginger sauce on top of the chicken wings, added some chopped garlic (thought the next time I would like to have them sauteed first coz it may bring out the fragrance more) and wolfberries. Added just a little soya sauce and realised I had forgotten to add a little cornflour. I steamed the chicken wings for about ten minutes.

Tried out a new way of cooking chicken two days ago...bought this jar of ginger sauce from Soup Restaurant during CNY this year, decided to use it. In Soup Restaurant, it's used as a dip for chicken, have always loved this ginger sauce. Well, I think I am kinda a ginger lover :P

The Ang Ku Kueh Mission

Thanks to Cons, a few of us had yummy ang ku kueh from Ji Xiang at Everton Park. Wow, I believe each had a box of quite a number of ang ku kueh. Cons, thanks for thinking of us and for making that delivery, appreciate your thoughtfulness :) Ha, mission accomplished! I liked the one filled with peanuts, goodness, the fine-grained peanuts were so fragrant when I sank my teeth into one filled with peanuts. The skin of the ang ku kueh was also so thin. I don't usually eat ang ku kueh but these were really good.