Mid Autumn festival

One thing I like about Jaden's school is that they teach the children to bake cookies according to festivals, teaching them life skills such as car-washing, window wiping and housework stuff but that I bet other schools do that too.. but I love the cooking class best! 

Jaden has been bringing back quite a few stuff he made from scratch, albeit sometimes a bit salty, then kemek looking, or half-cooked or not very edible-looking but it was the effort and willing to do all that, made me so proud of my 6 year old.

Just yesterday, their school had mooncake making session.

Everything from scratch again.. the children had to make their own dough, salt and whatever mixed into it, roll it out and squeezed into the mooncake mould. Of course, they are not allowed near the oven, which the school maids will help bake for them. Each children made three mooncakes each and boy, it was such a pleasant surprise this time round.

I actually dared to eat what Jaden made for the very first time, as most of the time, it was Hubby that was the guinea pig. He has stronger tummy than me, but this was still quite hot, straight from the oven when the teacher handed me Jaden's mooncakes and me, being a glutton, could not help but ate one.

It was actually good, not sweet like these commercialized mooncakes and the best thing, it was made by Jaden. It was actually a really traditional mooncake, made from scratch by my own boy and it was awesome!

Today, we are going berlantern jalan-jalan with Haidn around the neighbourhood, just like last year but this year, I got a little smarter.

I have always thought it would be nice to hold on to a traditional paper lantern and walk around but them, being small little boys, swinging their lantern like some cowboys swinging lasso ropes around, its wiser to get the battery-operated lanterns.

So, this is Jaden's 2013 lantern.

It was truly a good buy as he seems pleased with the lantern this year, or maybe he has grown much more aware of his surroundings. He keeps asking me to switch the lantern on for him and well, him playing cowboy and guess what? The light in the lantern seems to be fading out, not sure if its getting low in battery or my boy is just one rough one! 

We sure did have a shorter walk this year, but a good one. Both boys were just practically holding on to their lantern, or more like the smaller boy was practically dragging his angry bird lantern along as he walked around the neighborhood.

:: The father & both his sons ::

First, there was only Jaden who had to play lantern by himself and also have our family friends come over and celebrate Mid-Autumn.. then last year, Haidn got to join Jaden on the tanglung walk.. this time next year, there will be three little boys on the tanglung walk trail. :)

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival peeps!

Busy in the kitchen

Of late, I have been rather busy in the kitchen.

I have been cooking almost daily ever since Jaden started his diet. I can't really remember a day that I didn't cook that I am at home since we came home from Singapore.

Since Jaden is on a strict diet, no gluten, no casein, we had to go mostly organic in vege, meat and fruits for the boy. Even ingredients too, such as sauces have to be really gluten and casein free. Thankfully for Village Grocer at my area, which might be the most GFCF friendly market. Second best would have to be Cold Storage but then again, I have not been to Jaya Grocer so I wouldn't really know.

Anyway, I made two dishes that I am rather happy about to share. I mean, I have cooked quite a lot of stuff but I think these two are and will be one of my best GFCF dishes so far. Unless I explore with better ones.

So what are these two dishes that I am so happy about?

First Dish:-

Barbequed Ribs
I bought pork ribs and was inspired to make them for Jaden to try because I have been feeding him rice and noodles till I feel a little pitiful for him because sometimes, they tend to be a little bland. So I surfed the internet for some GFCF recipes and came across this delicious step-by-step instructions with pictures enough to make me salivate and the best thing, I can also make full use of my oven!

Firstly, I sprinkled a generous amount of salt and pepper on the ribs. I added on garlic powder as well with a bit of thyme. Well, actually I think either you can marinate it over night with it or just do it on the spot. It doesn't really matter.

Then I put the aluminium foil below the grill rack to let the excess 'juice' from the pork ribs to drip onto. I also covered the ribs with foil on top, fully covered in a way with some air space to avoid the ribs from drying out. The foil really does wonder in keeping the dryness away and keeping the ribs inside cooked but moist.

I turned on the maxi grill knob and leave it there for an hour. You can try one hour and 15 minutes if you like so that the ribs will be more cooked and softer when you sink your teeth into them.

After an hour, tear away the foil that covers the pork and then brush on the barbeque sauce on them. Since it was for Jaden, I only brushed on the Gluten Free BBQ sauce on the ribs, all over, and then put it back into the oven for another 20 minutes. I kept the temperature at the same 220 Celcius for the first grill and then, when the aluminium foil is no longer needed, I turned it down to 200 Celcius.

Ooh.. to see the pork ribs crackling there in the oven and the aroma that fills the air.. mmmmm.... lets just say it was lovely.

If it was not meant for Jaden and that I can not taint my cookware with gluten stuff, I would have bought the alcohol-based bbq sauce and brushed them over those lovely ribs.. *sigh*

I know I should have taken pictures to show the end result but it was that good, it was wiped clean off the plate.. finger-licking yum yumm!


Second Dish:-

Minced Beef Risotto
OK. Maybe it will fail as risotto in professional context but I try to make it as close as it can get with the ingredients I got in my kitchen.

Since I could not find arborio rice sold anywhere that I have been to, I resorted to using brown rice to cook since the doctor did say it has more nutritional value and I need to break open the bag to start using brown rice in Jaden's meals.

The recipe calls for butter to saute the garlic and onions. As you all know, Jaden is off dairy products, I found a butter substitute -Nuttelex Original which uses 100% vegetable oil and definitely dairy free.

So first, I sauteed the diced garlic and diced onions until they turned translucent in colour. I sprinkled salt over the onions as well as they saute in the pot. Just a bit.

Next, I throw in the minced beed and sprinkle more salt and pepper and a pinch of italian herbs and also a generous sprinkle of garlic powder.

Once the meat changed to a cooked colour, I throw in the brown rice which I had soaked earlier in water for almost an hour. I stir-fry them with the meat for a while, about 3-5 minutes and then pour in a bowl and quarter water.

My fire was on medium high to bring the whole thing in the pot to boil before I put them down to low to simmer off all that water and let the rice be cooked. When the fire was on medium high, I put the lid on. My thoughts were that if I put the lid on, the rice would get cooked to become all nice and plump instead of tasting and biting into hard grains. You would know the taste if its not cooked properly. *wink* Then when I feel that the rice is cooked already, I took the lid off and let it simmer till the leftover water evaporates from the pot.

It should have been beef broth or chicken broth to put in but I don't have that so I make do with what I got. Just plain cooked water.

Well, after an hour 15 minutes into cooking, and the water had evaporated.. mmm.. its time to scoop that tasty thing out of the pot and just savour every yummy mouthful.

Since this is GFCF for Jaden, it was served just like that for him. For normal peeps out there, you can sprinkle some parmesan in near the end and then enjoy those cheesy creamy moments.

BUT oh wells, Jaden has no complaints and he loved every single bite. I made a little more for him to have it for breakfast so I don't have to break my head thinking what to make for him tomorrow morning if I happen to wake up as late as he does. I am just hoping Hubby didn't think the risotto is for him but I doubt he will touch that creamy soggy looking bowl of rice.

Aaahhhh bliss!

My next mission is to make GFCF loaf of bread using my oven. I already bought the GFCF mixes and other sorts of flour to try making pastries for him. Other than bread, maybe pao soon.. =) Wish me luck won't you? I tend to suck with baking! LOL

Blueberry Muffins

Guess when they said once you start, you'd never stop.

Baking can be real addictive and therapeutic at the same time, yes?

*sigh* I was itching to bake for quite some time after my chocolate moist cake and finally, today, I got down to it. Hubby ain't home and Jaden was busy entertaining himself with some DVD box covers so I quickly whipped up the Blueberry Muffin, premix by Betty Crocker.

All I needed to add on was a bunch of blueberries, which I bought fresh ones from Grocer Village, fresh milk (full cream), 2 eggs and 50gm of butter. Betty Crocker actually had prepared a can of blueberries inside the box but I opt for fresh ones instead because I believed fresh is always best when it comes to fruits, meat and vegetables.

36 pieces again but this time round, I am giving away some to a friend because I know nobody else would really touch the muffins except me. Hubby aint a very big fan of my baking and cooking cause I tend to whip funky recipes, too funky in fact for Hubby. He chipped a tooth because my waffles I heated up in the oven. *oopsie*

I learnt one lesson here. If the blueberries are baked a little too long, they will explode inside the muffin, some might leak out on to the pan if its put too side. Note to self for future baking. *gRin*

Well, I liked the blueberry muffins I baked. Therefore, I am a satisfied girl today.

:: updated :: Hubby likes the blueberry muffin too. Not crazy about it but he likes them and he ate quite a few. DOUBLE YAY!!!

Cake anyone?

Today I attempted to bake the super moist chocolate cake with Betty Crocker pre-mix. I went to the bakery utility store and got myself a pack of chocolate chips to put inside the cake I visioned myself baking.

As usual, it should be fool-proof right with pre-mix ingredients where I only need to add 3 eggs, a little water and vege oil/butter.

My niece, who had been staying with me for the past few days helped me scattered some chocolate chips in and smoothen out the batter in the cake pan before we decorated it further with more chocolate chips after the batter was nicely spread out in the cake pan.

This time round, it took about 40 minutes -45 minutes to be nicely done but I got a little carried away with the rack space and it was a rack too high so the top of the cake had a slightly burnt effect and taste of course. *sigh* and to think it is supposed to be fool-proof. Nothing escapes my arsed brain.

Surprisingly it was rather moist inside but since the upper crust was quite hard, Hubby poked fun at me and said everything that I put inside the oven would automatically come out as biscuits instead. *shakes head*

So here, I leave you guys with some pictures. Its one baking attempt that I think I failed. Nevermind, there will be other attempts next time until I master baking a cake from scratch instead of using pre-mix.

For now, I shall just settle for pre-mixes first.. *grin*

First attempt at fool-proof baking

It has been sitting in my kitchen cabinet for quite some time now. Everytime I go grocery shopping, I am tempted to get another one, and then another one but I held back because if I do not make use of the one in the kitchen cabinet, I never will make use of the others.

I have the pans, baking paper all ready, ingredients but I dare not start. Maybe I was scared of failing in a way and that would really bring my confidence really low.

BUT enough is enough. I just can't let the oven not put in use. Afterall its thousands of ringgit spend there because I am the one who insisted a MUST to have it in my kitchen and not putting it to use would mean endless lecture till my end of time.

So today, I got everything ready, all gung ho ready to start. I even went and re-bought the right sized baking paper to fit my mini muffin pan.



I did what the instructions told me to do. What I was not sure about, I smsed the baking guru and asked. I am sure she would have puked blood when she saw all my questions because it shouts out nothing but noob noob noob!

Luckily, the end result was not as bad as I thought it would be. Well, although it is a ready-mix muffin satchet which only requires me to add eggs and vege oil/butter and water to it, I can be quite an idiot to fail a fool-proof recipe.




Hubby commented that it does not have much body as in maybe I mixed a little too much water. So next time, less water but all in all, I am very satisfied with the work I have done. I just can't stop popping these cute mini muffins into my mouth. MMM... now I understand why those women who bakes and then just can't stop eating their end results. I am sure if I bake more often, there goes my diet plans to want to fit perfectly into the dresses I have gotten to attend wedding dinners. *sigh*

A satchet of the chocolate muffin I got was just right for 36 mini muffins. I should get more muffin pans now.




o.Oh Shu-Yin, you would love going to this bakery utility shop near my area. Its full of whatever you want over there just for baking... =)

I will probably be trying out more fool-proof baking before actually venturing into virgin grounds of using baking powder, baking soda and everything that needs to shout ORIGINAL / FROM SCRATCH! Seriously, I don't think I can be anymore noober than this. LOL

Our Meal Today

Woke up earlier than both the boys today because I had an errand to run early in the morning. There goes another good day of sleep for me. *gRin* When I came home, Hubby was already up from bed. Thankfully I bought breakfast/lunch back for both of us. We ate, he went and showered and after ironing his shirt, I thought I wanted to lie down. I did not even hear him come out from the shower or leave the house. I was already deep in slumber dreaming away beside Jaden.

Jaden woke up at 1230pm, which also means that it is time for me to wake up together with Jaden. I only got about 45 minutes of sleep then... * y a w n **

After feeding Jaden his cereals, I went on about to prepare the ingredients to cook for dinner. The pork and the minced chicken was defrosted earlier so I just have to marinate both the spareribs and minced chicken. Then I cooked the chicken stock with carrots on the side to sweeten the stock to pour into the slow cooker together with the rice and marinated minced chicken with bits of corn here and there (the boy loves it).

After settling the boy's porridge, I went on to prepare ours. Washed thoroughly the spareribs and marinated them with soya sauce and pepper, cut up the lotus root and put the pot of water to a boil. On the dinner menu today was lotus roots spareribs soup with red dates. The soup turned out not too salty, not too bland. The red dates really compliment the taste of the soup.


While waiting for the soup to cook, I washed the four angled beans carefully, stripped them off whatever that is not supposed to be there and then cut them into small strips. Diced up some garlic and chilli padi.


I stir-fried the four angled beans in belachan, some dried shrimps to go with it. It was good.. It sure did taste better than the first time I attempted this dish.

Hubby came home in time to cook his tauki-taufupok dish in oyster sauce and garlic. That is also one yummy dish, which I cleaned the plate empty.


So there, the three dishes for dinner tonight.

Jaden finished his whole bowl of porridge as well. Thinking if tomorrow he is feeling better, prolly will try pasta for him instead of porridge in case he gets bored or eek-ed out with it. Got to change the menu every now and then for kids.



As for his health, he is getting better. He is still sweating out lots, runny nose not that bad anymore. It is still there but it has recovered quite a bit. Just that when he coughs, I can still hear the phlegm in there. The wheezing however is out of the system. GOOD! *phew* Still keeping him in the house though so that he can recover 100%.

Will start on The Time Traveller's Wife soon, maybe in Penang... and speaking of Penang, I must start planning for the packing for a week long of clothes -both Jaden and mine. BAH and the diapers! Am thinking whether if I could start to toilet train him back in Penang.. maybe I will just do that. *gRin*

I have just finished reading My Sister's Keeper and I totally hate it. I hate it because it made me cry like a girl got dumped by her first love. I hate it that the book had me 'living' with it, breathing the same air as the characters and then suddenly it toyed with your emotions leaving you dissatisfied. Aarrrgghh... but c'est la vie.

Recipe from Linaree

After a day or two of not cooking, I got into the mood of wanting to try a new dish recommended by Linaree. Of all people, I asked Linaree for a recipe and she said she got to save the MSN message of me asking her for it. =) I didn't exactly follow step by step with her steps of cooking the dish but the ingredients are there.

Minced Pork & Egg Plants in Chilli Bean Paste



First I put the garlic in and fry them till they turn a little brown, put in the minced pork and a few diced chilli padi and let it cook a bit before putting in the chilli bean paste.

Let both the sauce and meat simmer together, no need to add salt already as the chilli bean paste is salty enough. Sprinkled a little pepper on the meat tho.

When the meat looks like its all cooked and infused with the paste, put in the egg plant and stir them around, till they are also covered with the sauce.

Fry them a little longer before pouring in a little water, own estimation though so that the meat and egg plant can stew together for the taste to come together.

It would be salty so I put in half a teaspoon of sugar to balance up the taste and let it stew. I

ts ready to serve once the eggplants are soft enough to eat. =) Garnish it with spring onions if you wanna make the dish look pretty.

My next two dishes are Roasted Duck Stir-Fried with Garlic and two different types of fried eggs. One for Hubby and I and the other for Jaden. Guess which one is ours?


Roasted Duck Stir-Fried with Garlic



Fried Onion Eggs & Cheese Omelette



What do you think of these dishes? Its a public holiday tomorrow and I can't wait for it. Got a movie to catch! *gRin*

Misbehaving and New Dish for Dinner

Jaden woke up earlier than usual today, before me, at about 830am and started rolling around till I could not take it anymore. I finally took him outside to the living room at about 930am and quickly fed him his rice cereals.

Bathed him, then myself and we were out of doors at about 1120am. Hubby was supposed to come with us today but seeing him so deep immersed in his dreamland, we went ahead without him. I don't think he realized it either. *tee hee* He need the sleep to work his ass off later in the evening onwards till the next weekend comes anyway so oh wells, might as well just leave him be...

Jaden totally misbehaved today in class compared to the previous classes attended. It must be due to him getting sleepy, thus the grouchyness took over and it was all the way just him and the toys in class. He did not attempt much activities like his classmates. Today, there were two new boys who joined the class. One named Ashraf and the other Sean.

Ashraf was really well-behaved and Sean, well, somewhat just a tiny pinch better than Jaden in terms of behavior. Those two were snatching balls off each other.. *sigh* Sean took Jaden's ball after he dropped it and ran off with it. Jaden gave chase and Sean ran even faster. It was quite a funny sight but well, still have to be on my toes to keep both the boys away from each other should they end up fighting.

Bought cod fish from Jusco and I was really looking forward to try a new recipe and give Jaden some fish to eat. We have been eating meat, meat and meat and of course vege, but seafood is rarely rarely cooked in this house. Most people that knows me would know that I have a deep fear for fish. I can touch any parts of meat but when it comes to fish, I will eeked out like crazy. *shivers* But for the sake of my son, I braved myself to buy the cod fish, come home, washed it and attempt to cook it without it having any of those fishy smell.

I got the recipe from this website here, added cilantro and well, it turned out kind of well and Jaden loves it.. happy happy me! Want to see the outcome? Nah! =) Well.. it will be some time before I attempt to cook another fishy meal.. sticking to meat and vege is good for me at the moment.

My signature dish -brocolli and garlic

My Butter Garlic Cod Fish =)

My recipe? Not much different from the one I took from but I marinated the fish with salt, all Italian herbs, diced garlic and ginger, a slice of lime for the juice. Didn't have garlic powder in my kitchen so I just rub the fish with more diced garlic thats all. o.Oh make sure the fish is chilled and not frozen yah.. I heard from my friend that cooking frozen fish will emit out some kind of poison/toxic? as banned by the Ministry of Health in UK.. not sure about it but well, people say then don't do lah right?

Then I put in the butter, and then sauteed the garlic and ginger. After that, I put in the fish and pan-fried it for a minute or two before throwing in the curry leaves and a tablespoon of soya sauce. I put more than 5 leaves.. doesn't really matter. In fact, it made the dish more fragrant with more leaves. =)

Once the garlic, ginger and curry leaves looked brownish or a lil fried, I dished them out and put them aside and continued pan-frying the fish till golden brown. Then only when I finally put the fish in another plate, I poured the garlic, ginger and curry leaves on top of the fish and garnished it with coriander.

Wee!!!! There.. simple kan?

Looking forward to cooking my soba noodles soon but tomorrow, got to fix my craving and lunchtime with Xy.

Tomyummmyyum!

Unhealthy dinner

Today marks Jaden's 3rd attendance in his Little Rompers. Boy, he has learnt to recognize the place and when we entered the premise, a smile is already plastered on his face.

We were about 10 minutes late due to parking problems but in the end, I managed to get a space real fast when I decided to try to park in the open space area instead of the basement.

Today, there were only two kids -Olivia and Jaden. The little girl came to greet Jaden only to Jaden smiling, looking away, pointing at his own cheeks and then ran away. He has yet to master the social skills with kids his age.

It was pretty ok with just two of them, and he did more gym stuff compared to the previous two classes. The confidence in him climbing up and down the equipments there is starting to show. He even attempted to try to walk the beam bar on his own but well, the walk was a breeze with Teacher Siew May and me holding on to him.

He threw a tantrum when the teacher kept the balls away and Olivia laid down beside him and said "Ku!" (*cry) so cute I tell you this Olivia..

Told the teacher we would need a replacement class for next week as we will be attending a wedding dinner and don't want to tire the small boy out on the day.. just in case he throws tantrum during the dinner.

The little boy was looking out for his father.. alas, the father was fast asleep at home. Poor little boy! Somehow he likes his father to reassure him of certain things.. seeking approval from the father.

Jaden slept off quite easily when we reached home. Then Hubby and I proceeded to eat KFC for lunch, and then I started preparing for dinner. Can you believe it? I actually prepared dinner after finishing our lunch.

o.Oh before that, I also cooked spiral pasta carbonara with chicken shreddings from my KFC for Jaden for his afternoon meal after his nap. Mmmm.. he loves it!

For dinner, we had Black Pepper Beef, Chilli Flakes sausages, home-made mash potato and stir-fry brocolli. Yum!!! Nah, show you all a sample! =)

Menu over the weekend

The long awaited wanted dinner of mine did not happen last Saturday as two of our friends had a last minute meeting. So instead of just Hubby and I and Jaden, I thought might as well just cook dinner at home since we bought quite a lot of veges in Tesco the night before. Hubby complains that I buy them but never really get to cook them until they turn yellow so I thought might as well just cook them all!!!

I whipped up bah kut teh for dinner. Started preparing for the dish since 130pm, hopefully to be done by 4pm where I had to leave to pick Hubby up. Did everything in time while Joy helped looked after Jaden. How Joy came about in my house is another story to be told, which she ended up 'going to the movies with the car mechanic'.

Reached home at about 530pm, hungry like mad and both Hubby and I ate all the rice I cooked accompanied with bah kut teh. There was still half a pot of bah kut teh left after we were done with the early tea/dinner meal so we saved for later... which turns out to be at about 11pm again before we finished the whole pot! YUMMY!

On Sunday, I steamed the Emperor Chicken with red dates and wolfberries, which sweetened the dish a bit. Fried asparagus with sambal belacan and the chilli I brought back from the Chilli Pan Mee place. Should have added some dried shrimps to the asparagus dish... *sigh* there will be next time tho!

Yesterday, I cooked my usual minced pork in thick black soya sauce + chilli padi and brocolli with braised mushroom. Fried omelette with cheese for Jaden which he finished it, fed him with rice and brocolli to nibble.

Today, shall take a rest from all the cooking and go tapao some ramadhan bazaar food. Afterall ramadhan bazaar food only come once a year! =) and there is one just right opposite where I stay. How convenient can that get?

I am so procrastinating in washing up the dishes at the moment but think shall get down to it this instant after I log off blogspot. Still feeling the fire burning inside me for doing someone a favor and getting shouted at while it! BAH!

p/s: Fell kind of in love with Miss USA 2009's evening gown... pretty in blue yea?

Jaden eats curry

Today I was rather inspired to cook something new for Jaden to try out for dinner. Since now Jaden can eat rice and more adult-like food, I thought why not try out what Anita cooks for her son to eat since her Jayden loves them and coming from her, its always a good recommendation.

Yesterday while we were at One U, I stopped at the Zanmai shop @ One U old wing and bought a box of Vermont Curry Mild. Anita told me that this Japanese curry ain't hot and kids love it.

So bought it I did.. RM12 or was it RM11.90 for a box of 2 mini packs in them. There are a few boxes of them ranging from hot to medium hot to mild. I chose the Mild one... maybe next time, I shall try the medium hot.

Diced up some potatoes and carrots, marinated the chicken strips with a tiny sprinkle of salt. The carrots and potatoes are diced into really small portions so they could be sauteed nicely with the chicken strips.

Poured a little oil in to first stir-fry the chicken and carrots and potatoes before leaving them in the saucepan to saute... seeing the chicken strips turn a little brownish, I put in the curry sauce and add boiled water. Not too much water.. its more like common sense to just let the curry sauce thickens but also not too salty, so its play by sight and taste on the curry, when to add water or when to stop adding the water. Once the potatoes and carrots is soft enough for the kid to eat, its time to turn off the fire. o.Oh.. Fire? On low heat of course.. don't want a charred flavoured curry do we?

I cooked Jaden's rice separately from ours in his slow cooker. Put a little more water than normal compared to our rice, but less water than his porridge's. Poured the curry over his rice, with lots of chicken and potatoes for him...

So does he like his dinner? He finished them clean! Mmm.. I am happy with my decision to cook this dish for him. Next on, prolly mac and cheese for the small one!

p/s: Jaden just turned/ threw his table into an upside down position and Hubby seems impressed with his strength. Hubby even have the courtesy to joke that we should make a few more babies so we can have our own mini demolition team! *shakes head** The boys in this family can really drive me crazy!

Lunch

This is no new dish but for me, this is the first time I made it and it turned out well.. so here goes.

Semi-Dry Curry Chicken

• A whole tray of diced chicken (can buy in Giant / Tesco) -sprinkled with salt
• Curry leaves (1 stickful of leaves)
• Curry Powder for Meat (Allagappa's)
• Bunga Cengkih (6 to 7)
• Star Anise (3)
• Coconut Milk (pour accordingly /whatever amount you think reasonable)
• 2 tablespoon of soya sauce

1. First, I washed the diced chicken and sprinkled a generous amount of salt. Would like to think I locked in some taste into the chicken.
2. Washed the curry leaves, drained and put aside.
3. Heat up the pot, pour in the oil.. and then pour in the spices such as curry leaves, bunga cengkih and star anise and fry a little till you smell the fragrance of the spices.
4. Pour in the curry powder, not too much.. maybe a small little rice bowl quantity.
5. Drizzle in the coconut milk then.
6. Seeing that your curry powder might look a little fried, pour in just half a cup of water from your usual drinking mug. Maybe 1/4 would also do.
7. Then put in the chicken and let them all be coated nicely with the curry.
8. After two minutes or so, when the curry starts to boil, pour the soya sauce in for taste. Not too much as you don't want the curry to be toooooo salty.
9. Stir from time to time so the bottom will not be charred. Low heat would be best!
10. Once you feel the chicken is cooked and have the curry taste in them a bit, its ready to be served.

p/s: I did not put in potatoes because I forgot but it would really go nicely with diced little potatoes. Recommended!

So there, my semi-dry curry chicken for lunch.. sorry I didn't manage to take photos because when I remembered, it was all gone! =)

o.Oh and remember I said something about my Creamy Corn Konnyaku Jelly. It turned out ok but I was not really satisfied with it. Hubby says it tasted something like what someone on diet would eat. Not 'lemak' enough.. but that was not what I felt about it.. its something missing.. I really wonder what. This is how it looked like!

Looks disgusting eh? I felt disgusted when I came to eating the body part.. it really felt as if I was eating goldfish for real! LOL

First Attempt -Fried Wantons

I made fried wantons last night.

Started out at 10pm, finished frying the whole 25 pieces at 12am.


Ingredients:

• Minced Pork
• Spring Onions
• White Pepper
• Soya Sauce
• Sesame Oil
• Salt
• Cornflour
• Wanton skin (can get from the hypermarkets)

1. First marinate the minced pork with salt and pepper, spring onions, a dash or two of sesame oil and a table spoon of cornflour (depending on how much the meat is)
2. Mixed them well, let them sit for a while.
3. Mix a little cornflour with hot water. Just a little will do.. and put that aside on a tiny bowl or sauce holder
4. Then take a teaspoon to take the minced pork and put it on to the wanton skin, dab the cornflour water at the edges of the wanton skin and fold them to your liking.
5. After done, filling in the minced pork into the wanton skin, they are ready to be fried golden brown.
6. How to know if the meat inside is really cooked, well, as long as the part where the meat is is golden brown in colour, they are cooked.
7. Pat them dry with kitchen towel (tissue dry) to dab out the excess oil.
8. Served with thai chilli ketchup or mayo! =)

p/s: Don't put too much cornflour water at the edges as when they are fried, they will become super hard. Just a slight dab will do to make the skin stick tight so the pork don't come oozing out of the skin later when fried.

I didn't deep fried mine but you can always do that. I pan-fried mine... that is why it took longer. So if you want to try to make wanton the amateurish way, you can always refer to my recipe... or you can alter it to your own creativity.. =)

Hubby didn't complain about it so I guess it was ok.

I was taught how to make the soup dumplings a few years back but I forgot how to fold them nicely.. it seems the skin was made from scratch with dough and water and the roller to flatten it out. Maybe when I am feeling hardworking and adventurous again, I shall google for the recipe again.. maybe... but at the moment, I am happy with fried wantons!

Menu today

Pepper-spiced pork soup

Stir-fried cauliflower with minced pork marinated in oyster sauce with a few chilli padi and dried shrimps thrown in.

Hmm.. I wonder how would Hubby would react to the menu today?

Sshh.. yet to tell him...


**updated**
The stir-fried dish tasted too funky for my liking.. now I don't even dare to want to find out what Hubby's reaction will be later.. aaarrrghh FAILED GILA again!

Resisting temptation -fail siut!

The moment the little boy shut his eyes for his nap, I quickly went and trim his little fingernails, then carried him inside the room to sleep and went about hanging my washed laundry, most of them are Hubby's clothes at the moment.. then took out the vege to wash, diced the garlic and cut the chilli padi, soaked the Chinese mushrooms and start cooking. o.Oh of course before that, cook the rice so by the time vege is done, rice is also ready!

I had the brocolli boiled for two minutes before draining the water then pour them out on a plate while I go fry the garlic till it looks a little brownish. Then I throw in the brocolli and the chinese mushroom and toss them while pouring in the oyster sauce. The outcome..mmm.. I love it! Can't wait for Hubby to come home and have dinner together.

Then I thought, might as well take some time out and sit and blog when I heard some noise coming from the room door. Look at it for a while and it was actually moving. I guessed the boy must have woken up and is trying to open the door to come out. True enough, after his one half hour nap, he crawled towards the door and attempted to open it only to find that I had shut it tight this time because I was cooking then. Don't want no oil and smell hovering over where I sleep do I?

His eye is still swollen. Poor little one but it seems to not bother him so the only thing I can do is make sure he don't go rubbing that eye, drink lots of water and wash his face whenever possible.

These two three days, I have only been eating a meal a day but when I have the meal, I really swallow it all down. Just like last night, Hubby bought the whole roasted duck from the old aunty selling by the road side near Tmn Mayang. Then he got two pasemburs, two cendols, one for each of us. I came home and cook rice and vege. Lets just say after the lunch/dinner I walloped, I felt like puking and I stayed full until I went to Giant and bought myself the mini cornettos and popped in about 5 mini cornettos. *guilty look*

... *sigh* and to actually think I want to lose at least a kg or two before end of April comes before I go back to Penang for WW's wedding! crap! I can see my 'diet' plans failing!

MUST EAT AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE TOMORROW.. my motto for the month of April... shall strictly stick to it!

Tom Yam anyone?

I tried cooking Chicken TomYam today. I was rather inspired by all those cooking shows that said it was rather easy to cook tomyam and I thought why not? Since it is one of my fav dish of all time?

So off I went down the aisle in Tesco looking for

• Tomatoes
• Celery
• Carrots
• lemongrass (Serai)
• Chicken Fillet
• Grey Oyster Mushroom
• Chilli Padi (actually the bigger chilli would work better but they are far too expensive and I use more chilli padi at home anyway)
• tomyam paste (I cheated)

I defrosted the chicken early in the morning.. only to wake up later to find it all ready to be sliced into perfect size. Sprinkled a little salt on the chicken while I then go and work on other ingredients.
Wash and then cut the lemongrass off at its tip and the root.
Boil the water in the pot then throw in the lemongrass.
Then put in the paste.. according to taste and the pot size.. then dump in the chicken fillet.
Let it boil for a while.. before dumping in the other veges.. and leave it to boil and bubble..
10 minutes before taking it off the stove, only then throw in the mushrooms.
well.. basically thats about it la the steps to make a simple tomyam chicken soup.

So well.. tomyam anyone?

Vege disaster tangerine sweetness

I am assigned to prepare lunch today. Normal ones. No net browsing for some recipes that I think will come out funky tasting. Just the normal minced pork with thick black soya sauce and chilli padi and stir-fry choy sum.

Rushed through the chopping and dicing of the garlic, chilli padi, potatoes for Jaden's porridge and a tiny slice of ginger while keeping an eye on Jaden who was sitting on his baby chair. It ain't easy running to and fro from kitchen to living room to provide him more biscuits to keep him busy. *sigh* Thankfully Hubby got up rather early today and kept an eye on him instead.

Turns out I am not a vege good chef. WAH using pun wey! Anyways.. yah, I am not good with vege dishes and this choy sum dish turns out to be a major disaster. I WENT WRONG WITH THE MOST SIMPLE DISH! It is only stir-fry and I still screwed it up. *F A I L siut!* Nevermind.. next time I shall just stick to boiling them first then only cook the sauce separate and pour it over the vege instead. I can't possibly go wrong then could I?

Comes evening then, the whole SimonYap clan headed out to SS2 to get our annual mini tangerines. I tell you, these tangerines are bursting with sugar explosions. They are so sweet and they come in like hundreds in a mini plastic box. This year, we got ourselves 3 boxes and I bet before CNY, it will be just 2 1/2 left.

Since CNY is approaching, it is tradition that spring cleaning has to be done and well, I got rid of some old magazines. My collection of Female magazines are the heaviest of the lot. Have you seen the amount of advertisement pages in them? That really added to the weight! So as I was tying them up with rafia string, the little boy decided to 'help' me. In the end, Hubby got to trick him over to sitting quietly in the living room eating his tangerines.

Look at Jaden eating them. His first tangerine tasting and he is loving it. Loving it so much that when his father took a piece of his table, he went "Eh?" So cute!

Kitchen dishes # 1 -Jan 2009

Today on the menu is stewed chicken drumsticks with slices of pork, dices of poratoes and chinese mushrooms, slices of carrots with sauteed smashed cloves of garlic..

I wonder how it will turned out. It is still stewing as I type. Stewing since 3.35pm... Rice is ready tho. o.Oh which means I have got to go downstairs to get a few Chilli Padi.




Toodley toodles!

**updated 8pm.
Hubby loves it. Jaden loves it. He got up as fast as he could from his bassinet to join us at the dinner table. He had a few grains of rice to go with it too.. so yea, its a success! YAY!

All by myself

I am pretty much satisfied with what I achieved today although I think I could do better. When I said better, I meant by including laundry and mopping the floor or wiping the TV cabinet. Yea. I am talking about achievements in doing housework.

Jaden slept off two nights now without drinking milk although he will wake up in the wee hours of the morning to feed still. A sign of weaning? Yes? Hopefully so but that will also be quite a sad thing for me to part with such a spscial bonding session with my baby boy. *sniff*

He woke up at about 1145am today and started to wake both his parents up. When failed to do so, he decided to start talking to me in baby language and with such cuteness, how can anyone resist? Changed his diapers and took him out to the living room for his routine-d Sesame Street video while I prepare his meal for him. After that, while he was still pre-occupied with other videos, I diced some garlic, onions, chopped up some sausages and chilli padi and took out the last night's leftover rice from the fridge. Also took out some minced pork to defrost and cleaned up the dishes.

It was almost 2pm when I had everything done, with the occasionally run-n-sit in front of the comp to surf online boutiques and blogs. Bathed the little boy and well, hes been napping since 3pm. Time to wake him up soon. While he napped, I quickly fried the rice and well, today's one is really hot for me. I wonder what Hubby will say when he taste it later.

I am so inspired to cook these few days. Just yesterday, I cooked herbal chicken soup with the real thing (those herbal stuff you can get from chinese herb stores) and fried brocolli for lunch. All those done while keeping an eye on the monley little one, running to him to meet his demands and all.. and back to the kitchen and back to the TV area. *sigh* Now I am really feeling very grateful when mom was down here so one can keep an eye on him while the other can runaround and do his/her own stuff. Now, its only Hubby or me and Jaden, lately prefers my company. Sticking to me like UHU glue. Wishing he can walk soon so I can just put him down on the floor instead high up on the baby chair and have this fear all times that he climbs out from his seat and fall. Speaking of hoping he can quickly learn to walk, I must now go and mop and clean up the living area for the little boy...

Back to motherhood I guess for me now.. toodles~