this is good

I haven't been really active in the kitchen as I am feeling really lost, down, tired, sad, pain and now what else. I was into one of the depressing mode lately. Can't seems to find any joy in life. Even the short trip didn't cheer me up.

You can't bake and cook if your mind and soul is elsewhere. You can't bake and cook when you are feeling down. So I didn't really achieve anything even though I got a long list of "must try".

So yesterday, I was trying to snap out of this depressing mood. I forced myself to focus and decided to do something nice for my family. Supposed to have it together with rice but was again caught up with emotion that I didn't prepare the rice!!!

Nevertheless, I managed to prepare this lovely Sweet and Sour soup that was shared by Lily. Really nice. Thanks Lily.



What you need

1 cake silkin tofu - cut into small strips
1/2 cup bamboo shoots julienned
2 tsp julienned black fungus (Wood Ear) - soak
3 - 4 Chinese dry mushrooms - soak, remove stems and cut into strips
2 tsp of julienced Char Choy
2 ounces pork tenderloin, julienned

Marinade:

1 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp tapioca starch
1/2 tsp sesame oil

6 cups water (or 5 cups water and 1 cup chicken broth)

(I)

1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp soya sauce
2 Tbsp red rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp of chilli oil


1 egg - beaten lightly


Garnishes:
2 Tbsp finely chopped green onion
1 Tbsp finely chopped ginger
pepper to taste

Thickening mixture:
1 Tbsp cornflour (it is more stable than tapioca flour)
1/4 cup water


Method:

Boil broth/water. When it is boiling add the char choy, mushrooms and wood ear. Simmer until char choy releases its flavor.

Add the tofu and when the broth comes back to the boili add the marinated pork. Add the remaining ingredients in (I).

Beat the egg well. Set aside. Test the broth and adjust the taste if desired. (If using chicken broth, you may want to add a bit more rice vinegar).

Mix the cornflour and water. Slowly pour the cornflour mixture into the soup, stirring while it is being added. Test the broth and adjust the taste if desired. (If using chicken broth, you may want to add a bit more rice vinegar). Let the broth come back to a boil. As soon as it is boiling, remove the broth from the stove.

Slowly drop in the beaten egg, stirring in one direction at the same time.

Add garnishes and serve hot.

What a fall

Don't ask me how, but I did it. Had such a bad fall that I torn my pants and damaged the stroller.

For a woman of my age, I can't believe that I can actually fall flat and hurt myself badly, just like a little girl. What a day but I make it up by having a good time shopping and having a nice dinner with an old friend and my family.

At the end of the day, I was a happy woman with an extremely sore knee. What the heck, I haven't been shopping like this for a long long time.

Cutting down on red meat

My neighbour just given me some nice spicy dish which she got no name for the dish. Since the kids cannot have that for dinner, I decided to cook a dish with more sauce to go with the rice.

This week, I am trying not to cook too much red meat. In fact, I bought lots of fishes for this week's consumption. Got some nice fish fillet, why not a Sweet and Sour Fish for my kids.



I also did a Lotus Root Soup. I think the saying is really true, practise makes perfect. Now I am able to gaudge how much water to use, how long I should brew it and the heat used for making a nice bowl of soup. But I can only stick to the same old pot when making soup (hahaha).

Sweet tooth

It has been quite awhile since we last had this. So last night, I baked two seafood pie for dinner. I added scallops to the original recipe and thus ended up with too much fillings and didn't know what to do with it besides baking another one. Anyway, my family love this and I don't think they will mind having it again. Somehow, the taste kind of altered with the additional of scallops. It is sooooo good.



I bought two types of honeydew (one is from Malaysia and the other from Australia) over the weekend, having in mind to whip up Honeydew with Sago dessert during the weekday.

Blame it on the hot weather that we have been getting recently, I also have a bunch of banana that is ripening at such a fast speed that I really need to finish it up quickly. Margaret shared with us a banana pudding that I have been thinking of trying out. So bingo, the opportunity is here.

So with no choice but to create two desserts for tonight's dinner.



What you need

175g sago (washed, soaked for 1/2 hour and then drained)
1 white flesh honeydew (removed skin and seeds, half diced, half liquified)
1 yellow flesh honeydew (removed skin and seeds and diced)

Syrup (boiled together till sugar melted)

100g palm sugar (shaved)
200ml water
3 - 4 pandan leaves.

Method

Put the half white flesh honeydew in blender and liquified, chilled it.

Boil water and add sago once water reached a boiling point. Stir and continue cooking this it turned transparent. Pour cooked sago into a sieve and put it under running cold/tap water. Drain well in a fine sieve.

Combine sago, chilled honeydew juice and diced honeydew in a bowl. Stir in syrup and add evaporated milk to your likings.

Serve cold.



My photo on the banana pudding didn't do justice to the recipe because it is really yummy. But I did reduce the amount of sugar because my banana is already quite sweet.

What you need

5 ripe banana (sliced)
100g sugar
250ml water
4 pandan leaves
100g evaporated milk
75g custard powder mixed with 4 oz water

Method

Prepare the custard mixture, mixed till smooth. Set aside.

Put water and pandan leaves to boil for about 5 mins, then add in sugar. Stir till dissolved.

Add in custard mixture slowly, keep stirring till mixture thickens.

Add in evaporated milk and then the banana, continue to stir till bubbles appeared. Turn off heat.

Wet serving cups and then pour in the cooked mixture.

Leave to set.

Serve chilled.

can you bend like him?

We left our babies with my mom for 3 nights when we went our short trip, due to space contraints, they all slept in the same sleeping area with their cousins.

Eversince we came back home, our babies refused to sleep in their respective rooms. So first night, boy bunked into girl's room and second night, girl bunked into boy's room.

See how "comfortable" my son sleeping position. He had his feet nicely planted on the floor and his upper torso on top of this pillow on the bed!!! the bed is at least 16 inches above the floor!!!! Amazed how flexible he is!!!!

Just realised they also got the same sleeping posture, with their hand raised up.

Peace at last

Initially I was supposed to go to Tibet but due to communication problem, my friend left without me. Just needed so much to get away from my kids. Not that I don't love them but I really need to have some peace.

My hubby was nice to take time off his busy schedule to accompany me on this trip. Packed our bags and joined my sister and brother in law in Bangkok for 4 days.

On our first night, we went to this awesome place where they served German beer and German tweaked Thai cuisine. The place was packed with locals and it was really nice. Besides good food, there is also a band and singers to entertain us. What I like best was it followed by a short story on how the owner started this restaurant and how beer is being brewed on site.

For the rest of my holidays, it was packed down with local food. I love the oyster omelette at MBK. In fact, we love it so much that we had it twice before we leave for home.

Another nice cafe that we went, my hubby called it Thai style fast food. The food is unique, at an unbelieving cheap price and yet good. I doubt it is available in any Thai restuarants in Singapore because it is really a local fare.

The next great place that hubby brought us to, is this Chinese Seafood restaurant that served really nice seafood in Thai style. The only set back is that I didn't get a chance to taste the fried morning glory as they ran out of stock. I wasn't able to take pictures as we were dining with hubby's business friend.

It was really nice to have no kids bickering and seeking your attention for pure four days. We spent our time shopping and eating.

Besides my foot injury which I cannot walk too much or too fast and my dear hubby's having his phone pickpocketed, overall, I had a nice time and my kids were delighted with so many presents that we brought home.

Finally satisfied!

Been craving for nian gao since Lunar New Year. Initially, I thought I can get some of my mom's pan fried nian gao during my visiting. Guess I totally forgotten about it till yesterday.

Went through the recipe that Linlin shared with us and bingo, I got all the ingredients on hand needed to do a Baked Nian Gao. Got myself busy for a good 1 hour! and tada......



Thanks Lin! Though a little too sweet for me, but it is definitely an awesome piece of nian gao and a very satisfied woman.

Out for the nite

Tonight, there is a Parent-Teacher volunteer meeting. This is my first time attending though I have been on this "job" since last October. There will be a buffet dinner provided but first I need to settle the dinner for my family.

A simple one that all loves. Grilled Chicken.