Doggie Dreams

Picture of my bro's doggie, took it when I was back home few months ago, she's sweet huh?!?! Well, this post will have nothing to do with this cutie though...hehehe.....

Each time I go back home, there's always some sort of "trend" that people will follow to the point of worship. You know those people...;) Sometimes they do it with so much fervor that it completely amuses me. Most will know that food is topic that you can't avoid when you're home, in fact it's the main thing that preoccupies one's mind at all time. And with people like this, it's pretty much all the time..;)

Ok...here comes the ranting....:) (promise I'll TRY to make it as short as possible...)

Ironically, when it comes to all those glorious food out there in Singapore, people I know, are just not that interested in it. To be specific, it's a battle for them, there's food, but they are so particular about cholestrol this, fat that, oil this, sugar that, it's just IMPOSSIBLE to eat ANYTHING without someone remarking "it's too fattening". Ok...I'm just tired of hearing that phrase. It's also rather amusing at the same time. Their concern is not moderate, it's what they live for, it's consuming their commonsense as well...it's basically, eating them up!!!! (ignore the puns :) )

Let me give you a short list of what's no-no back home. Anything fried, bad! Anything with coconut milk, really bad. Sugar, there's always some excuses of it being bad but will eat with "moderation" (saying this with tongue in cheek)..hehehe.. Rice, bad, coz we all "know" all white foods are bad (all thanks to those fad diets out there naming white foods as culprits). So more or less, EVERYTHING is bad!!

Look, you've got to eat some time or another....besides what a way to live...NOT EATING! I wonder if the word "moderation" is mis-interpreted somehow??? hehehe.. I believe that everything is ok to eat, it's not what you eat, is how much you eat. I mean, if you want to live a "healthy" life by simply eating raw vegetables only, I'm sure somehow that would seriously mess up your body. Everything in moderation is my motto. It really doesn't really matter what you eat, as long as you eat in moderation, and eating balance meals, I think that's the way to go. Not going around starving your body of so-called "bad" foods and condemning others who would venture to eat them..*winks*

With all those funky food fads and diets out there...it's really impossible to send out the message that it's alright to eat foods with oil, with butter, with sugar, with salt, with red meat, etc....just do it in moderation...that should be the key....;)


Note: No, I'm not a dietician nor a diet guru....just expressing my personal opinion on a constant amusing observation..:) Did I mention....I saw a square watermelon as well...;) Next post...ehehhe

Thai Mango Salad

I like making Asian Salads; they are easy and less fussy. With Asian salads, you usually get sweet, sour, spicy, salty in one dish. Also they are lighter on the palatte without all the oils. I espeically like Thai style salads (considering I'm not a big fan of Thai food), personally I think they are more like amuse bouche and gets the appetite going and enjoying the rest of the food. I guess I'm just partial to them coz they are convenient...hehe...

I made this salad using green unripe mangos and shredding them with my "magic" peeler. Yep, you heard it right, Magic Peeler. That's what they are called, at least that's what I was told by a Thai chef. This peeler is ususally used to shred the papaya in the Thai green papaya salad, I figured you could use it for mangos as well. Besides, it does have other functions other than shredding vegetables!! LOL! And yah, I got it from Thailand, I don't think they sell them here in Texas...;)

Recipe
Ingredients
-1 green unripe mango (choose a firm one)
-2 medium shallots
-1 cucumber (optional)
-1 carrot (optional)
-1 lime
-Fish Sauce
-Cane sugar or Brown sugar
-Small thai chillis (the spicier the better)
-Small dried shrimps (optional)

Method
-Shred mango, cucumber and carrot into matchstick size shreds and slice shallots thinly. Place them all in a bowl.
-Squeeze lime juice all over the vegetables, and add fish sauce (amount varies to your taste) and sugar (again, add as little or as much as you want). Mix it altogether and adjust taste.
-For those who wants it spicy! Chop the chilli finely and add them to the salad and mix.
-Now fry the small shrimps till crispy and use it as topping on the salad. Totally optional!!!

Note: This is a very "forgiving" dish...pretty much the taste will be good...;) You can just use mangos and it will be just as good...

Herbal Chicken

Eversince I tasted Dong Quai stir-fried Chinese Mustard Greens I'd always thought about creating simple day to day dishes that incooperate Chinese Herbs. That dish was simply exquisite; it was light, refreshing and so delicate tasting. I'd always thought that chinese herbs are only used for long period cooking such as soups or as sweet tonics, not with everyday dishes. So this really open up my mind to other possibilities.

However, all said, I'm never THAT adventurous to try various herbs in regular dishes. This dish is something I created based on a loosely interpreted recipe from my grams and something that is already commercially available, Emperor's Herbal Chicken package (although you can always get your own herbs instead of the pre-packaged ones). I didn't use Dong Quai here, for obvious reasons, it was just too "heaty" for summer consumption. I guess I'll just call this Herbal Chicken then...;)I made it AS a chicken dish so that the whole family can consume.

Recipe
Ingredients
-1/2 chicken (whole preferred but it was just too big for famiy of three)
-Wolfberries, a handful
-Dong Quai, 2 thin slices (usually comes pre-cut if you buy the sliced ones)
-Dang Shen, 2 pieces
-Scallions/Spring Onions, 2-3 stalks
-Ginger, 4-5 thin slices
-Seasame Oil, 2-3 tsp
-Benedictine Dom (herbal liquer) or ShaoXing wine, 2-3tsp
-Soy Sauce, 2 tsp
-Honey, 2-3 TBS
-Dash of sea salt

Method
-Rinse chicken and pat dry.
-Cut spring onions into batons, thinly slice ginger and set aside.
-Rinse all the herbs and set aside. If using Dong Quai and Dong Shen, blanch them quickly in boiing water first. (This will release their fragrance faster and also speed in the cooking process later)
-Then mix sesame oil, Benedictine Dom, soy sauce, honey and sea salt together and rub it on the chicken.
-Put the chicken and its marinade on a heat proof dish (ready for steaming).
-Place the ginger slices inside the chicken cavity or (in this case) under the half chicken.
-Place the herbs and the spring onions in the dish.
-Steam the chicken at medium heat for about 45mins-1hr.
-Ready to serve.

Note: I didn't add Dong Quai and Dang Shen coz I think they might be a little too "warm" for the body with this summer heat. The chicken, ginger, sesame oil and the liquer were already "warm" enough for the dish. You can add more wolfberries if you want, they are good for eye sight and can be eaten as it as a snack! Even for kids. I usually give my little boy a few to munch on. :)

Okra & Indian Fishhead Curry

I saw these wonderful organic okra/ladyfingers at the store and I knew I can't pass them up!! They are so green, unblemished and seriously tender!!! You have to love these little morsels! I bought them even though they weren't on my list, I just had too!!! hehehe...ok...the greedy me taking over! I know exactly what I was gonna use them for...;)



Oh yahhhhh....my all-time fav, Indian Fishhead curry. I didn't have a gigantic fish head but I did have a regular size whole red snapper. All I did was use the upper half of the fish and viola, fish head curry! It was close to my fav Indian restaurant back home but of course, it's never the same...heheh...

Recipe
Ingredients
-1/2 red snapper
-3 heaping TBS of fish curry powder (I used the Baba's brand)
-2 TBS tamarind (fresh kind and mix it with 1/2 cup of water to get solution)
-4 medium tomatoes, quartered
-Okra/ladyfingers, as many or as little as you like
-2 sprig Curry Leaves, just leaves
-2 cardamon pods, clightly crushed
-1.5 tsp fennel seeds
-1.5 tsp mustard seeds
-1/2 can coconut milk/cream
-2.5 cups of water

Method
-Mix Fish curry powder with some water to form a thick paste.
-Mix the fresh tamarind with some water to form a tamarind solution, discard seeds and pods, just use tamarind solution.
-Add some oil (I used vegetable oil) in a pot/wok and place the fennel seeds and
mustard seeds into it and heat it up slowly with medium/medium low heat till they popped.
-Then add the cardamon seeds and fry around till fragrant.
-Next, add the paste (if it starts to burn, lower your heat a little and add some coconut milk to it to prevent burning)till fragrant.
-Add the curry leaves and tomatoes and stir.
-Then add the tamarind solution with the coconut milk and let it come to a slight boil and add in the rest of the water (less if you prefer less gravy).
-Bring it all to a boil and then add the fish and season it with salt.
-When the fish is about done, add the okra (they cook pretty fast so always add them last).
-Now if you like it a little thicker still, add a little more coconut milk/cream
to finish the dish.


Note: For those who likes it a little more sour, just add more tamrind solution or even some lemon juice would do the trick. Again, everything is an approximate..:) enjoy playing with your taste buds!

Home Cookin' : Yu Sang

I've always love Yu Sang. I think it's one of the best recipes ever invented! You can pretty much add anything to it and create your own version. Traditionally eaten during the period of Chinese New Year, these days, people just eat it whenever they feel like it. It's comprises all the elements of a balance healthy one meal dish. Not only is it simply delicious, it's also healthy! Really, what more can you ask for.

This one in particular (the pic below) is one made by my grams, she's not very conventional when it comes to her Yu Sang garnishes, erm, she actually used potato chips in additional amongst many other unconventional items. Ed thought it was great and why didn't people just use that altogther...hehehe.. Doesn't it look just scrumptious!!






Yup, that's my little greedy boy pointing at the Yu Sang, he wanted to grab it and just stuff his face with that so he's asking his daddy to get some for him. I guess just the look of that dish can make anyone hunger for it!! hehehe...And he did enjoy eating it, I mean, who wouldn't right?!?! hehehe

Note: Oh yah, just for the non raw fish eaters, this Yu Sang was made with shredded chicken and jelly fish.

Simple Vegetable Curry

I've got all these little bits and pieces of leftover veges that I had in the fridge. On its own, can't really make a dish out of it so decided to do an everything-one-pot dish! So what else?!? Vegetable curry! I love Indian Curries; they are so simple yet so delicious!! Besides when you want to clear your fridge of all these odds and ends, might as well come up with something good..;)

It would have to "pure" vegetarian if I didn't add the fish paste tofu in but I also needed to "clear" that. It was just taking up useful space in the icebox!

Recipe
Ingredients(this is what I had)

Note: Almost any type of vege, I prefer not to use the leafy green ones since I don't think they contribute much, in terms of flavor, to the dish and also they tend to wilt real fast.

-Napa Cabbage
-Carrots
-Eggplant
-Cauliflower
-Okra
-Fish paste Tofu
-3 heaping TBS Baba's Fish Curry Powder/Vegetable Curry Powder (it's the one that I had)
-Tamarind liquid (made with some tamarind mixed with water and simply just used the liquid
portion)
-Curry Leaves, 2 Sprigs, remove stems (OPTIONAL)
-Indian Chilli Powder, 1 tsp (OPTIONAL)
- 1.5cups of coconut milk/cream
-6 cups of water

Method
-Mix the Curry Powder and chilli powder together with some water to form a soft paste.
-In a pot (preferably non-stick stewing pot coz it would be big enough), heat 4 TBS of oil when
hot add the curry powder paste, stir at moderate heat (you don't want to burn your paste, it
burns easily)
-Fry this paste till fragrant and add the Curry Leaves and stir some more.
-Then add a little of the coconut milk (if you see the paste sticking to the bottom
of the pot, add a little bit earlier)
-Wait till it's simmering a little before adding 1/2 of the remaining coconut milk.
Stir and wait till at boiling point, add 1/2 of the call for amount of water and
the tamarind juice.
-At this point, add in the vegetables. The ones that take the longest to cook, goes
in first, and for those that only need a short cooking time, add in at the end of
the cooking process.
-Now we need enough water (if the rest of the water ain't enough) to cover the
vegetables in the pot. If there's enough as stated, good. If too much, just use
enough of it and if too little, add more. Then cover the pot slightly and let it
come to a boil before lowering the heat to simmer it till cook.
-Then add the rest of the coconut milk to finish (this is to slightly thicken the
curry). Also add salt to taste. Garnish it with cilantro if wish.

Note: All the liquid amounts are based on the amount of gravy I want and the amount of vegetable used. Therefore amount varies. Remember that liquid tends to reduce when it's simmering for a while. Try not to overcook the vegetable coz that makes the stew a little mushy. Omit chilli powder if you want it less spicy, I added an extra whole dried chilli to give it an extra kick.

Banana CupCakes

Regular Cupcakes


Mini Cupcakes


Filled Cupcake

Recently I've been really into making cupcakes. For a person who doesn't really enjoy sweet goodies, I'm surely overenthusiastic about making them. I guess I love creating it coz they are just too pretty. They are literally mini cakes! I think I'm in this just for the aesthetic value of it!! Well, one thing about cupcakes is that they are very versatile and you can change even one batch of cupcakes into many different kinds simply with fillings, toppings and decorations. So you wouldn't have to stick with just one cake till you're done with it. Besides, it's easy to gift them away coz they are easy to pack. I made this particular one with CreamCheese frosting and added some molasses and honey instead of sugar from the recipe.

Recipe (8 regular size cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes using muffin pans)
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup really softened butter
2 large eggs
2 large bananas, mashed
Dash of nutmeg

Method
-Preheat oven to 350c.
-Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
-In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.
-in another bowl, cream suar and butter till fluffy. Then add in eggs one at a time.
Finally add in mashed bananas.
-Then mix in the flour mixture (I use my KitchenAid on low speed here)till just
combined.
-Pour batter into prepared liners and baked for about 18 minutes (regular ones) and
about 10-12mins for minis. Or till tester comes out clean.
-Take them out of the tins and lined them on wire racks to cool. Cool completely
before any frosting.
-With fillings, I cut a cavity with a small paring knife and fill the hole with
chosen filling and cover it back with the cut muffin top and just frost over the
top (you wouldn't be able to see the cut after that).

Note: This recipe was modified from another recipe that I've. You can omit the molasses if you don't like the taste. Personally I like it coz it reminds me of Gingerbread (except for the bananas). :) Enjoy playing with differnt decorative ideas.

Bak Chang

Wanted to make some Bak Chang (Chinese rice dumplings) but the festive season was over by a week. Know what, it doesn't really matter...afterall it's the cravings that count! hehehe...

Made the Nonya version coz that's the only kind that I really like. Used a recipe from one of my cookbooks. So to San, YES!! I finally put those cookbooks I bought to good use!! *grin* (real pathetic, I know). I also modified the recipe a little to accomodate my time, skill and availibility of ingredients.

I didn't know how to wrap the dumpling and having only seen it done, I tried to duplicate as much of it that I could remember plus whatever I can research from the net. Man....it wasn't easy! I managed to make six ok looking ones. They aren't exactly easy and took too much time. I had to pre-make the filling 2 days ahead, soaked glutinous rice and bamboo leaves a day ahead and finally embarked on the project on the third day (or rather night). By that time, I was tired and irritated coz it seems the more I make, the worse they looked and to make matters worse, I was tearing the leaves as I was making the dumplings!

Of course, as I was at the lowest point of my dumpling making project, my grams called (THANK GOD). I told her what I was doing and she kind of told me off!! hehehe...Saying that I was spending too much time on wrapping, where got all that time, better to do other things with and even her (she's an EXPERT at making this dumpling) wouldn't think of doing it even if she has the time!! So she told me that I could just laid some bamboo leaves on a metal plate (use a round baking pan here) and place the rice, filling and rice on it, top it with some pandan leaves, cover the top with the bamboo leaves and just STEAM IT till cook. GEEZ!! Why didn't I think of that!!!! *Proceeds to kick myself* I mean, I cook Loh Mai Gai the same way and it's also glutionous rice just different filling, why can't I do the same here!! I guess I never thought of that, talk about thinking outside the box! My husband said the flavor was just as good steamed but he missed the pyramid shape, so I told him he has two choices. One, he could buy some pyramid shaped mold to hold the rice and steamed it OR two, he could wrap those darn things himself!!!! Guess he was contented to just eat them as they are...

Ethan: First Day in School

"Hmmm....sure looks gooodddd."

"Should I???"

"Yah....why not! *chomp* *chomp* *chomp*"

Yup, it was my boy's first day at school last week. It was only for 5 hours and it's once a week. He gets to interact with kids his own age for a change instead of mummy all the time. He was alright while we were dropping him off at the school; all wide eyed and excited, squealing in his litted high-pitch toddler voice. It was all gggooodd...till we had to leave... We said our "enjoy", "love you" and "bye-bye"s and he looked at us, a realization in his eyes, boy, did he let it out!!! HE WAS BAWLING!!! His teacher had to carry him a little to comfort him while mummy decided to hide around the corner to pretend she had already left. It was miserable for me, they had to close the door in order for him to calm down and all I was left hearing was him screaming his head off!! I was so tempted to go into the room, get him and go back home. But I didn't, trying hard to convince myself that this is all good for him; get social skills, friends, education, blah blah blah....all the while, that little voice at the back of my head saying, "you're a terrible mother, dumping your kid there and walking away while he screamed!" Oh boy, all that GUILT!!!! Went home, cleaned the ktichen up (never had it been that clean!!), vacuumed, gardened a bit and just relax!!! BOY IT WAS GREAT!!!! All the guilt is still there but I felt I totally needed that alone time...:) And yesterday was Ethan's second time at school, he still screamed the minute he saw me leave, but he was ok after awhile. The best part was knowing that it's ok that Ethan was enjoying himself. Yes, he might screamed initially but he was having fun after that throughout the whole time in school and that's what count (yup, I called to check on Ethan and I saw him later when I picked him up, he was playing happily). So when Summer School ends and School Year starts, it would be twice a week....we'll see how he fares..*wink*

Cold Tofu with Century Egg

For some unknown reason or another, both my husbnad and my boy don't like tofu. They just don't eat it. However as I AM COOKING *wicked grin* AND I love tofu, I'll cook it as often as I could and hopefully get away with it!! *mianical laugh*

Tofu is so versatile and easy to cook and pretty much absorbs the flavours that you add it, not forgetting it's healthy as well!! SO many pros!! This is one of my fav tofu dishes that I hardly get to eat these days. With my husband, he has no choice and he will eat it (not coz he thoroughly enjoys it but just so that I couldn't nag at him) and for my son, I'm still in the midst of "training" him not to be such a picky eater!!! ;) Ed finds my attempts very amusing!! :p

Recipe (4 Servings)

Ingredient
1 Pack Soft Tofu, rinsed and drained
2 Century Egg, shelled and washed
Spring Onions, 2 stalks, cleaned
Soy Sauce (Low sodium preferred), 3 TBS
Dark Soy Sauce, 1 TBS
Cooking Oil, 1.5 TBS
Water, 3-4 TBS
Sugar, 1 TBS

Method
- Cut the Tofu into 4 parts or edible chunks and leave it aside to drain more of its excess liquid
(plz pour away all water from tofu dish BEFORE adding any toppings on it)
- Cut the eggs into small chunks and dice the Spring Onion finely.
- Place diced eggs on top of tofu.
- Then add all the seasoning (Soy Sauce, Dark Soy, Cooking Oil, water, sugar) and bring it to a
boil and take it away from heat immediately. Taste and adjust accordingly while still hot.
- Pour the sauce over tofu with eggs and sprinkle the diced spring onions on top. Serve.

Note: The seasoning is adjusted according to personal taste. I prefer it on a salty side but it's all up to the individual.

Sponge & Me

Here I am.....all lonely....no one except blankie.....
And then.................



ahhhhhh.......Sponge....me love Sponge...me best friend in the world!

Mee Rebus

Small Note : Decided that it was time to change my blog a little....wanted to keep it clean and simple. So for those who frequents this site, it's still the same....;)

Over the weekend and feeling a little "courageous", I decided to give this Mee Rebus recipe a shot. I had experimented with a couple of other Mee Rebus recipes in the past and they all turned out, erm, gross! Yes, GROSS!

But I was convinced by this particular version coz it was just plain simple and easy to follow through. Most of them asked for so many gazillion steps and instructions to follow that by the time the food is all done, I've totally lost all my appetite for it! AND if it was good, it'd have been well worth it however it was disappointing to say the least......

And since I'd a craving for it (I didn't get a chance to eat it when I was back home last month), I said to myself, "why not"........................

The above picture is all the blended spices at its raw stages. You would need to fry (as instructed) till fragrant and add into the prawn broth with the mashed sweet potatoes. It's that easy. Having the most important of this dish done, the rest is just mise en place. Of course, being a "perfectionist" ( I think the technical term here is "anal"), I HAD to make the yellow noodles from scratch (I can't find this particular noodle here, it's Hokkien Mee rather than Chow Mein). It wasn't difficult but just to eat a regular hawker fare (IF I'm back home), I would have to go through all the hassle just to get to it. It's funny and ironic!



The overall result was definitely good. In fact it was THAT good that my husband claimed that it's even better than some of the local versions he had in the past *flattery* I thought it was good too sooooooo it was lucky that I had made ENOUGH paste (AND stored in the freezer) that whenever we want, I would just have to whip it out from the freezer and mix it with more broth! :)

Grand Marnier Raisin Bread Pudding

I'd made so much bread these days that there's bound to have some leftovers. So what do you do when there's so much leftover bread, well, I made bread pudding with it. I love bread pudding but I don't eat it often. Mainly, it's tough to find GOOD bread pudding. Most of the bread pudding I've had the misfortune of coming across are the "gummy" ones. Don't ask me how they get so gummy or gluey but it just puts you off placing another spoonful of that into your mouth, let alone your tummy. Simply put it, in the words of my two year old, YUCKY!!!

Bread Pudding is not that difficult to made, it's mainly stale bread soaked with milk and sugar(I've further it by adding some Grand Marnier for a more fragrant smell and raisins for a more fruity combination)and baked in the oven. Now, I don't know what I should or shouldn't do to avoid the gummy bread pudding. I figured that over stirring the milk soaked bread might be the culprit since it causes the breakdown of bread chunks and make it more like a slurry of bread milkshake. So I left those bread chunks alone.

In the end, the Bread Pudding I made wasn't that bad. It wasn't gummy (thank goodness!!) and it was crispy on the top and quite tasty! The Grand Marnier soaked raisins helped give a different dimension to the dish. It was nice and most of all, it was easy. However it would be a while till I make this dessert, it was STILL bread and I think we're all a little sick of it now...;)

Sunnies

Never did I realize but this blog has been up for more than a year!! Heheh...howtime flies! Anyway, one of my earliest post was a pic of my little boy (than less than 1yr) wearing his mommy's sunnies, this time I thought it might be funny for friends and family to see him all grown-up (a little over 2yrs), wearing his daddy's sunnies!! He loves wearing sunglasses. I guess he sees us wearing them all the time, he wants it too. He actually has a few pair that we'd bought him but he goes through them real quick (erm, he breaks them!). So as a belated B-day for this blog.......here this little rascal with his sunnies on!!! LOL

He was trying to keep those glasses on and trying to keep his "cool" but it kept on slippng off his bridge. In the end, he couldn't stop giggling coz he thought it was real funny that those things has a life of its own!!! :D

Breadmaker Creations: Pizzas and Cinnamon Buns

I'm never a fan of commercially mass produced pizzas and least of all, frozen ones. However every so often I've a hankering for some slices of this pie! Since I'm not gonna pay exorberant prices for some pitifully topped, mass produced, delivered pizzas and I didn't know of a good pizza place, I would have to delve into the "world" of pizza making. I know that a good pizza requires a good dough and then you're pretty much set. I made a few variations with the toppings here but I definitely made my fav and also a classic, Pizza Margherita, as shown in the second picture. The dough was made using the Bread machine's recipe, no difficulties there, just follow the instructions (I think different bread machine has slightly different method/recipe to follow). Then I attempted (note "attempted") to shape the dough into a round shape, without success, so it turned out slight oval. I also did the throwing in the air thingy which didn't do anything taste wise (I didn't think so at least) except to dust my whole countertop with flour! Oh well.....at least I tried....hehehe..





After the pizza making attempt, I went onto cinnamon buns. Oooohhhhhhh I LOVE THEM! Well....at least I love the giantic ones from Cinnabon. I like it "pure" which means simply just as it is, no nuts no nothing. As you can see from this one, it's got nuts, pecans to be exact. Well, I had made two different batches but the ones with the pecans looked much prettier...hehehe... I make the pecan ones coz Ed loves them...so I know for a fact he wouldn't steal mine!!! Yes, two batches made for a selfish reason!! We gave some away and ate all of it in one day!!!! Yes, we had them for breakfast and brunch and it was gone!! Guess got to make some more. With the breadmaker making doughs(with yeast) are definitely less scary and closer to perfection, I mean, you really can't screw up. For those who thinks I'm cheating...well....it's good cheating then...LOL....with food like this, you can call it whatever....hehehe.....

With the bread maker I think I'm braver to make yeast doughs. I used to make to doughs in the past but they always turn out as failures but with this bread machine, all my yeast doughs are successes!It's GREAT! You don't have to invest on an expensive one, just one works.:)

Vacation Pictures

There were so many of them so picking out these few were seriously tough. We went to Koh Samui, Thailand since it was my husband's hometown and also his brother still stays there. It's a real beautiful island except that it's really hot and humid, as expected!! So let me cut the whole long story and just show some pics


Above is pics of the hotel we stayed in while on Koh Samui. It's the Nora Beach Resort and Spa at Chaweng Beach. Let me say this about this hotel, if you've any young children, this is a good place to be. Coming from a place where child friendly places are part of life, we take it for granted that vacilities attaining to it is an everyday thing. Well, Koh Samui, although a tourist place, does not really provide a lot of kid friendly place, you usually improvised what you have and most of the time, it's not safe for the child. So considering that this hotel gives attention to couples with children, I'm totally impressed!! Both my husband and I love it!!! It's got a big kiddy pool as well! Impressive!! On top of that, it's also a spa, which makes it REAL adult friendly. You can enjoy yourself in peace knowing that your child is also enjoying himself! There were many other activities there as well but we didn't have the time to indulge ourselves that much since most of time is spent with relatives. We had a villa (an upgrade!!NEATO!) and it was fantastic!! It had a small private outdoor courtyard attached to our villa that includes an outdoor shower (if you wanted to use it...*ahem*). A big bathroom with a huge jacuzzi tub AND another shower with a skylight and a rainshower shower head! Cool!! As you can guess being there is definitely one of the biggest highlight for me!! Six thumbs up (me, Ed & Ethan). Oh yah, did I mention that it was by the beach too...:D


Some home cooked food prepared by my sis in law. We had our dinner outdoors, al fresco style, despite the heat and humidity, it was truly enjoyable! Now I'm thinking of adding a dining set outdoors on our sideyard, but I think the Texas' heat is a little too much!! heehhe...


And here's some street food at a central market. Most locals do their groceries at an outdoor market but it was closed by the time we were there, except for the food stands which was fine by my husband..:) He went there for the desserts!!! LOL

A few pics of Ethan enjoying himself at the beach. He wasn't too keen in playing with the sea water but he was crazy over the sand!! He ended up picking handfuls of sand and throwing at the sea, himself and finally at us, coz he thought it was just funny to see us running from him!!!Of course, he was also slathered in about a gallon of sunblock!! Well...he was topless and rather fair, didn't want him to get sun burns!

Any Other Place

Just came back from Singapore and Thailand with an almost 3.5wks of vacation, welcoming the peace of this moment. Everything's so hectic back home, it's always a rush, even when it's not. Some people might think my mindset is laidback, well, not really, it's just that it would be NICE to, every now and then, stop and smell the roses! I seriously think this idea is lost in the sea of rushing here and there!!
Now that almost everything's back to "normal" and settled, I'm beginning to feel a little homesick. I think me feeling that is mainly coz of Ethan. He seems so lonely without his cousins, aunties and uncles. On the other hand, he's also less crazy and definitely more manageable. I think the heat got to him!! Plus he was teething as well!! So everything IS crazy!
Thing's so laidback here that I feel that I need to get out of here, any where seems better than here!! LOL I guess the grass is always greener somewhere else! Now if I can merge the best of home and here, that would one great place to be residing for sure. Meanwhile I would just have to settle for the "peace' and "quiet" of Dallas. Oh yah, did I mention that Ethan's "suffering" from major jet lag and extreme neediness!!! *sigh*

PS: More posts on this vacation later...:D

Mango Pie with Vanilla Bean & Cardamon Ice Cream

What to do you do when you've half a dozen of seriously ripened mangos in your hand and there's only 2 adults and 1 toddler to eat them all up before those luscious mangos spoil?? Solution= Mango Pie!

It's actually a twist on the traditional Apple Pie which the apples are switched with mangos instead. Not a bad idea and apparently a lot of cooks out there think so too seeing the amount of mango pie recipes!! ehhehe.... I used Ina Garten's Deep Dish Apple Pie's pie crust recipe for this pie and as for the filling, I sliced the mangos thickly and mixed them in a mixing bowl with sugar (amount varies on the sweetness of the mangos), cinnamon, a dash of freshly grated nutmeg, and some cornstarch (to absorb the mango jucies).

Now we all know that everything taste better with a dollop of ice cream! In this case, I've added some of my homemade Vanilla Bean-Cardamon Ice Cream. I don't know if there's any recipe out there for this ice cream but I came up with it myself, inspired by my favourite Indian dessert, Kheer, or rice pudding. I love the flavours of cardamon, the creaminess, the richness of that dessert with a hint of vanilla. I don't know if the original recipe of Kheer comes with Vanilla but I felt it would taste real good with it. And I wasn't wrong! I used Wiliams-Sonoma's Classic Vanilla Bean Ice-Cream recipe for my Vanilla Bean-Cardamon Ice Cream except that I added some cardamon seeds into the steeping process as well. This combination is the bomb! If anyone out there loves Kheer, try this ice cream, it's easy and it's fantastic (yes, I'm tooting my own horn here...) Oh and crush the cardamon seeds to release their aromatics. I had tried (in an earlier version) using them whole and they didn't quite give out as much cardamon flavour as I thought it would. I also steeped them longer, both the beans and pods. Plus I also used less yolks than called for in this recipe (4 yolks only) and used a fat-free half and half. A pretty easy recipe to follow and great tasting to add. My two in house food "critics" love the ice-cream (on the other hand, it IS ice cream...*sigh*)

PC problems!!

Ok...life has been a standstill for me. It was one thing after another. First it was the screwy cable connection and we got that fixed....eventually. Then comes (the very next day!) the wireless router; which means, I didn't have any connection STILL....thhheennn..eventually got that fixed, that took a little longer coz Linksys needed to send us a patch to have it fix. And now, my laptop doesn't have enough memory!!! I think my laptop is about to perform its swan song....*sigh*...it have served me well...but according to Ed "there just wan't enough memory to do all the stuff I was doing". Meaning, I "killed" it. Right now it's so slow that I could bake some banana bread, cook dinner, bathe Ethan and get back to where I was before I started all those chores and it's still uploading....*sigh*... Basically I sucked the life out of my machine... Ed says that he could add more memory but it wouldn't help much since it can only help sustain it for a little longer before I encounter the same problem AGAIN!!! I feel so helpless....I know I would have to give this machine up for a better faster one but I just can't part with it!!!! AARRRGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Meanwhile I'm still using Ed's pc and hating it...this is seriously messing me up! Let's hope that we can find a better solution when we get back from our vacation. Oh yah, did I mention that I'm crazy enough to sign up for a cooking class while I'm vacationing in Thailand! Yes I'm insane! And for some reason unbeknownst to me, I can't even upload pics via blogger either!! Yes...the pc gods are against me....LOL I guess I would just have to accumulate the mass and wait for an oportunity.......*waiting* *waiting*

Grilled Chicken Bulgoggi

Made this some time ago, one of my older post that never got posted. The reason for posting now is that I can't upload new pics to the blog since my wireless router went kaput on me! Yes, first was the cable connection, then (for real, no kidding)the router died the next day after the cable was fixed. Went to get a new router and then my laptop decided that it didn't want to recognize a new router!! So there it is, lying dead! Meanwhile had to use Ed's pc which I'm not used to (I HATE HIS ERGO KEYBOARD!!!). Anyway, for those who are wondering...yes, I'm still alive and *peep* *peep*, yes...still alive......

I make beef bulgoggi all the time and decided on something new, so had some boneless, skinless chicken thighs on hand and used them instead. What I like about this is that on chicken, the grill marks are more distinguished. The beef I used are so thin that you can barely see the marks. And I like this more (yes, I like chicken) coz it's also a little tastier, definitely something to make again! Plus, my boy loves it (well...he'll eat it as long as it's not broccoli!!! Hmmm...wonders if I grill broccoli this way would he eat?????).

Ingredients
4 Chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
3 stalks Spring Onions, chopped finely
4 pieces of garlic, minced finely
3 TBLS honey, amt varies based on prefereneces
2.5-3 TBS Low Sodium Soy Sauce
Dash of Black Pepper
1 TBLS Seseame Oil
1 TBLS Seseame Seeds, toasted lightly to release oils

Method
-Mix everything except chicken in a bowl, taste and check for the "right" flavor THEN add the chicken to marinate for at least 2hrs or better yet, overnight.
-Set your grill (I used an indoor electric grill set on 400F)and place your chicken diagonally to get grill marks.
-DO NOT MOVE THE CHICKEN WHILE GRILLING ON ONE SIDE!! Only move when you have to turn over to grill the other side!

Note: All the flavors are added to each individual's liking; if you like it sweet, add more honey....so on and so forth...:) just have fun!