C'est La Vie - That's life

2013-11-28T22:00:00.001+08:00

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Ingredients:

195g all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder ( I realized I have only baking soda when I have prepared the flour and salt, so I substitute with 1/4 tsp of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar plus 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch)
1/2 tsp salt
170g unsalted butter, softened
200g sugar
1 large egg, plus one large egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
12 tbsp milk ( I used HL milk)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Butter and line a 10.5 inch round cake pan. It is rather big for these amount of ingredients but that's the only cake tin I have at the moment. So the end result is a rather 'flat' cake.

2. In a medium bowl, sift and whisk together flour, baking powder (or substitute exclude vinegar) and salt.

3. Using a mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugar until fluffy for about about 2 minutes.

4. Beat in egg, egg yolk and vanilla until well-combined.

5. On low speed, add flour mixture in 3 parts, add in vinegar at this point of time, alternate with milk.

6. Switch mixer to medium and beat for 10 to 15 seconds, just until batter appears smooth with no lump.

7. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with spatula or knife.

8. Bake for about 30 minutes or depends on your oven and the size of cake tin used.

9. Leave the cake to cool for serving.

Stir Fry Chicken with Bell Pepper

2012-07-09T21:00:00.000+08:00

So long since I last posted, lazy mummy I am. :)
This is my recent favorite, to get my kids into eating the bell peppers. :)
I used chicken thigh and chicken breast meat as I do not quite like chicken breast meat.
for healthier choice, you may use chicken breast meat only, just speed up the cooking time as the breast meat tends to become harder when it cooks for too long. :)

Photo taken via Instagram

Prep Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 10 mins
Ingredients:

2 boneless (skinless) chicken thigh
1 chicken breast meat
Mince garlic
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
Salt to taste
Spring Onion to garnish

Method:

Dice chicken into bite sizes, marinate with salt.
Cut bell peppers into halves, remove the white color portion inside, cut them into stripes.
Heat up wok, fry garlic till fragrant.
Put chicken into wok, continue frying.
Put in the bell peppers, continue to stir fry for a while.
Season with salt.
Serve with spring onion.

Mince pork noodles

2010-05-18T10:00:00.000+08:00

A second edition of mince pork noodles. I loved anything that goes with mince pork. Earlier on, I posted recipe of I-fu noodles with mince meat. I have a slight variation today.

By the way, I apogolize for updating my blog only once in every few months as I now focus more on my kids and I do try to find time to cook and hopefully I can keep this blog updated regularly.

You could find updates on my kids via my other blog as well.

Source: Shuey’s own recipes
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Ingredients:

1 portion of fresh noodles
Around 115 gm of mince pork
Dark soy sauce
Light soy sauce
1 teaspoon Sesame oil
Pinch of salt
Garlic
1 egg
Water

Method:

Marinate mince pork with dark soy sauce, sesame oil and salt for around 10 minutes.
Heat up wok and fry diced garlic till fragrant.
Add in the marinated mince pork, continue stir-fry for a while.
Whisk egg in a separate bowl and pour into 3.
Add in water after a while, let it simmer over low heat for at least 10 minutes.
In another pot, boil water and cook the noodles.
When the noodles are done, drain and serve in a plate.
Top with mince pork. (I added the instant chilli powder as well.)

[ I actually prepared and cooked the mince pork in more serving and keep them in the fridge, in which case I save time by cooking only the noodles whenever I want to have this dish. ]

A one-person Meal

2010-03-27T08:22:00.002+08:00

With ZX going to school, I am now eating lunch alone at home.
Yes, it’s noodles again, similar to what I have done before but ingredients are lesser since it’s only for myself.

Source: Shuey’s own recipes
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Ingredients:

1 portion of sweet potato I-fu noodles
Mince pork season with dark, light soy sauce and corn starch
1 egg
Water

Method:

Heat up wok and fry mince pork.
Add in water after a while.
Add in I-fu noodles, stir and mix well to let it soften, you can soften it with warm water first.
Add in more water if necessary.
Whisk egg in a separate bowl and pour into the wok when the noodles are almost done.

I-fu Noodles

2009-10-02T22:00:00.001+08:00

I don’t quite like to eat porridge or rice these days, perhaps due to my baby’s tasting. :) I have tried the pumpkin I-fu noodles I bought, taste good, though the picture I took does not give it a good look.

Source: Shuey’s own recipes
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins
Ingredients:

2 portion of pumpkin I-fu noodles (normal noodles will do also)
2 stalks of bok choy, chopped into small pieces (for the ease of my son)
Few slices of pork, marinated with salt and corn starch
1 slice of garlic, chopped into small pieces
1 tablespoon of corn starch, mix with water for thickening
2 cups of water
6 medium size of prawns

Method:

Heat up wok and fry garlic.
Add in pork slices and follow by the prawns.
Add in bok choy, stir fry for a while and add in water.
Add in I-fu noodles, stir and mix well to let it soften, you can soften it with warm water first.
Add in more water if necessary.
Thicken the source with corn starch mixture and serve.

Stew pork rib with potato and tomato

2009-08-05T15:32:00.002+08:00

This is my first trial with the recipe, lucky me, it tastes good, just remember do not put in too much water.

Source: Apdated from cookbook
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 40 mins
Ingredients:

1 medium size potato
1 medium size tomato
About 200g of pork rib
Garlic
Corn starch, salt
2 cups of water

Method:

Marinate pork rib with corn starch and salt for 30 minutes.
Fry garlic and diced potato.
Add in pork rib and continue for a few minutes.
Add in water (just 2 cups) and let it simmer for 30 minutes.
Add diced tomato, cook for 2 more minutes and serve.

Fish Porridge

2009-04-25T16:18:00.001+08:00

Another recipe from my mum again, indeed, now I realize some of the dishes she cooks can be easily done, but to make it delicious, it will be another issue to look at.
Somehow I felt the taste of the slices of the fish is a bit bland, but my husband thought it was good enough. Another proof of us having totally different character. I wonder what character (from my husband or me) my son will inherit more other than his stubbornness.

Source: shuey’s Mum

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 60 mins
Ingredients:

1.5 cups of rice
Slices of fish
7 cups of water
Chopped ginger
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon of light soy sauce
0.5 teaspoon of sesame oil
Pepper

Method:

Marinate the fish with salt to get rid of the fishy smell.
Wash away the salt and slice fish thinly.
Marinate the fish slices with light soy sauce, the sesame oil and pepper for at least 30 minutes. ( I added pepper here as I want only a light taste so that my son will not feel the taste of the pepper)
Cook porridge with water.
When boil, put in the slices of fish.
Continue cooking for around 2 minutes, add in ginger and serve.

Cabbage Rice with Roasted Pork

2009-04-20T23:23:00.002+08:00

Nowadays I go for a one-dish meal or quick-made dish. This is partly because I am lazy and no mood, also, I want to get myself out of the mess in the kitchen so as to have more time for my son.
The dish I cooked on Sunday has most of the ingredients that my husband dislike. Yes, dislike, but I did not bother and go ahead as I want him to try things out with me and be a model for his son.
The prep time and cook time is a bit long, but they consist of the waiting time, thus it is still alright for me. By the way, I recalled how my mum did it and still I called her up to confirm the steps. :p She was happily shopping with my Dad at that time and gladly told me the steps through phone.
So here are the ingredients and method to cook for this rice. :)

Source: shuey’s Mum

Prep Time: 120 mins
Cook Time: 120 mins
Ingredients:

1.8 cups of rice
Roasted pork cut into slices
2.8 cups of water
Dried shrimps soaked in water
2 dried Shitake mushrooms soaked in water
Cabbage
Chopped garlic
0.5 teaspoon of dark soy sauce
Light soy sauce to taste

Method:

Cut cabbage into slices and fried garlic in low heat and add in dried shrimps.
Add in cabbage to continue stir fry.
Add in sliced Shitake mushrooms and continue stir fry for a while.
Add in (uncooked) rice to continue stir fry. (My mum said this is to add in fragrant to the rice, it is an optional step though.)
Add dark soy sauce and light soy sauce, continue stir fry.
Add in slices of roasted pork.
Put all mixture into rick cooker, add in water and set your timer as per normal.
Leave the rice in rice cooker for around 20 ~ 30 minutes to dry.

Steam Egg With Pork

2009-03-28T16:10:00.007+08:00

I am not in a good mood to cook various dishes today, but simply because I want my son to eat home-cook food, so I just made this dish up for his lunch. Instead of using the frying method, I use steaming this time to save time (and trouble).

Source: shuey's Mum

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 8 mins

Ingredients:

Minced Meat
1 Egg
Water
1 teaspoon of Soy Sauce
Pepper

Method:

Make sure minced meat is thawed completely. Season with soy sauce and pepper for a while.
Mash the meat in a shallow plate evenly so that they will not be too hard (big) later while you mix them with egg.
Pour beaten egg onto the meat mixture.
Using the same bowl which was for the beaten egg, notice the level of the egg and pour water to the level of the egg earlier on or if you like, a little bit more.
Note: The above step is to make the mixture soften, steaming minced meat with egg yolk will make the meat become hard. Adding water is to make it soft.
Steam 4. for around 8 minutes and serve.

Breakfast Sandwich

2009-02-16T23:31:00.007+08:00

My hubby is having reservist this whole week, ZX will be staying at my MIL's place for these few nights if we are not able to bring him home. I thought I will have some "more" time to do my stuff. Ended up I can only go online at this time due to the house work.

Anyway, how's your Valentine's? Well, we did not celebrate, yeah, only 4 years since our marriage, with ZX, we think it's too "troublesome" to celebrate. :D

But no worry, we do celebrate other special occasions, Valentine's Day to me (now) is just an excuse for the business man to increase their price for everything. ;)

This was made for ZX's breakfast, not related to Valentine's though. Inspired by WokkingMum, she created "lovely" and tasty meals for her kids, I remember she used cookie cutter to make nicely cut fruits for her kids, I then used the cookie cutter to make rabbit shape for the sandwich, it was Papa's suggestion to add in the "eyes", it did not really match, but nobody cared, ZX finished all of them. :D I am just starting to try, forgive me that it's not so perfect but do give me some advice, if you have any. :)

Ingredients:

1 Egg
2 slices of white bread
1 slice of cheese
Raisin

Egg With Mince Meat

2009-02-09T23:50:00.007+08:00

My son is not eating well these few days. He has been eating out quite a lots during these holiday season. Mainly due to his lazy mummy who wants to enjoy herself rather than cooking for the family. :P

I stayed at home today to take care of my son as I think he has been eating quite oily stuff and thus causing his diarrhoea. I think for a sick toddler, home cook food (even a simple one) will be good.

This mince meat (again) dish is a recipe from my mum, I love this dish and all the kids (my nephews, niece) love it too. I always have this with porridge, but today I tried it with rice, not too bad, but I still prefer the former. :)

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Mince meat
1 teaspoon of soya sauce
1 teaspoon of dark soya sauce (optional, I did not add today that is why the color of the dish shown in the photo is not so dark)
1 egg
Garlic dice
Oil
Water

Method:

Add soya sauce to marinate the meat for a while.
Use a small pot to heat up oil in small fire. Add garlic and allow it to fragrant.
Add the meat into the pot and stir fry the meat quickly so that they will not stick together.
When the meat is almost done, mix and add the egg into the pot.
Add in dark soya sauce and some water, if it is too dry.
Cover the pot with a lid and continue cooking in small fire for around 5 minutes or until the dish is dry and serve.

Gathering

2009-02-09T22:46:00.000+08:00

Last week itself, I finally have two small gathering with all my secondary school and ex-IA friends. Since when I have ZX, I almost have not met any friends of mine. This is due to the daily routine that I have to carry, basically, from home-work-PIL place-home. I guess this is quite normal for a double income family. It is tiring, but somehow, we do not have much choices unless I were to be a SAHM.

It is always a enjoyable gathering if you really know each other well. We talked about baby, work and somehow, "ghosts". Yeah, CNY still, but we talked about these things. Choy.... 大吉利市 :D

Few of them like me have became father / mother recently. It was almost like a father / mother parenting tips sharing session and somehow, since we have friends who are still single, thus, we have to hold on to our parenting tips session a bit. :)

Great! I like this CNY, for the part that at least I managed to meet up with my long-time-no-see friends. ;)

Shoes to be Given Away!

2009-01-22T15:29:00.001+08:00

Lots of mummies are blogger nowadays, it's interesting to see them sharing stories about coping with toddler online.

I often read blog by Leonny at Our Everday Things, starting today, it is giving away shoes for your little one.

Check out her blog to find out more details.

Egg Omelettes With Cheese

2009-01-19T01:21:00.000+08:00

This recipe was from my SIL, I don't know where she learnt this from, but it is a simple and quick breakfast. She actually prepared bacon and bake beans as well, since I think it will be quite a "heavy" breakfast for my son, so I did not get the bacon and bake beans for him now.

My son likes it so far and finish it within a short time. I served it earlier this time as I did not want it to be too hard though he actually prefers the egg to be cooked longer.

Preparation time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 cheese stick or 1 slice of cheese

Methods:

Mix egg well in a bowl, heat up the frying pan (I use non-stick frying pan).
Pour egg into frying pan, when it is half cooked, cut cheese stick / slice of cheese into small pieces and spread them across the egg.
Fold egg into half and serve.

Steam Mid Wing Chicken

2008-12-29T02:33:00.008+08:00

Have been busy and lazy to update my blog for a long time. All photos are in my camera and only part of them are uploaded.

Now that part of the milestones of my work are achieved, I have some times to record down my recipe during these holiday seaon. I have taken few day leaves to accompany my sis from KL. Unfortunately, she went back earlier as her daughter is having chicken pox. (Looks like there is a outbreak?) I cooked sugarcane with water chestnut water for them to bring back to KL. Hope my niece like it.

Ok, just a simple one, if you know how or where to get home made chinese rice wine,then it will be easy to make this dish. I tried the same dish with the rice wine from the shelf before. This time I tried it with the home made chinese rice wine version, mine is with the grape taste, I think it goes well with the normal rice wine as well.

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients:

12 mid chicken wings
A handful of wolf berries
Home made chinese rice wine
Salt

Method:

Marinade chicken wings with salt for half an hour or more. Soak wolf berries in water.
Wash away the salt on the chicken wings.
Pour chinese rice wine on the chicken wings and spread the wolf berries on top.
Steam 3. in medium heat for 12 minutes or till they are cooked.

Spinach With Dried Shrimp

2008-11-24T16:58:00.008+08:00

In order to minimize the cleaning after a cooking session, (or rather I am not good at stir-frying veg), I tried to avoid stir-frying vegetables as much as I can.

I chanced upon this recipe from a Chinese website while I was searching recipe for my MIL. I simplified it much much more by keeping only 2 ingredients (the original version has, perhaps 8 ingredients). :D The fact is it turns out to be a simple and not so bad vegetable to serve.

Ingredients:

Spinach
Dried shrimp
2 slices of garlic
1 teaspoon of soy sauce

Methods:

Wash and place dried shrimp in hot water for around 10 minutes and steam it for 10 minutes, alternatively, you can steam it for 20 minutes.
Chop dried shrimp and garlic into small pieces and mix with soy sauce.
Blench the spinach in boiled water.
Pour water away and place spinach on plate.
Pour 2. onto the the vegetables. mix and serve.

Apple and Pear Soup

2008-11-12T22:30:00.000+08:00

I learnt this soup from my MIL, it's really simple and good for healing from cough. It goes with or without the meat as according to her. But I have tried so far with meat. Also, my ZX loves it so much that he refuses to eat his rice and ask for the soup instead.

Ingredient:

Lean pork meat
2 apples (苹果）
1 pears（梨）
A handful of sweet apricot kernels (南杏), bitter apricot kernels (北杏)

Method:

Bring the water to boil.
Pour some boiled water to the lean meat and quickly pour the water out from the bowl. Put the lean meat into the boiled water and bring it boil again.
When the water is boiled for the second time, add the apples and pear into the soup. Allow them to boil in the soup in medium heat
Simmer the soup in low heat for at least 2.5 hours.

Minced Meat Toast

2008-10-30T22:37:00.000+08:00

I think it can never be perfect for anything, so here will be my first recipe online.

I love this breakfast / snack since young. When I was in my primary school, I once ate till I was full and vomited during midnight (Not food poisoning, but too full when I went to sleep :p)

The recipe is from my mum, she made use of some left over minced meat to mix with prawn and spring onion and sprinkle with sesame, my version is much more simpler.

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Few slices of white bread ( I used Gardenia, but any white bread you like will do)
200 gm of minced meat
Spring onion
1 teaspoon of oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of corn flour
1 teaspoon of sesame oil

Methods:

Chop minced meat and spring onion together to mix them well. Add sesame oil, soy sauce and corn flour to taste. Store in fridge for at least 30 mins. If you have some left over from making the dumpling (I will post this later), you can use them as well.
Cut bread into 4 small squares, heat up non-sticking pan with oil by small heat. Use a spoon to spread some mixture from 1. onto the bread.
Beat the egg in a bowl, dip the bread into the egg with the side that has the minced meat facing down and put them onto the pan. Fry for 3 minutes or till the meat is done.

My Guest Book

2008-10-13T07:50:00.002+08:00

Hi, welcome to my guest book.

Been to a several blogs, saw that they have quite a well-setup guest book, so thought that I should have one as well.

I am married to a stubborn Singaporean and am now a working mum who always do day dreaming. I am recently addicted to blogging. I do blog about myself, things that I always wanna do - cooking, and about my baby boy.

My typical work life is from 9 am - 6 pm. Thereafter, I have to rush back to pick my little monster from in-law's place. Literally, I have only 3 hours daily and 24 hours over the weekend to spend solely with my son and with all the household chores to do, I have to train him to play on his own if papa is not around --- this is so difficult!

With the "restriction" above. :) I hope that I can still post some recipes from either my MIL or my mum that I have tried on my own, I know nothing about cooking before I got married, so I will make only simple dishes :D, if you like any of them, do mention it here or just suggest anything for me to improve. :)

Way Back Into Love (Demo)

2008-09-26T13:05:00.001+08:00

Found this on youtube, really love it.

Malacca Chicken Rice Ball

2008-09-23T10:30:00.007+08:00

Em...Did not notice that the lighting was not so good when I took the picture, anyway, this will be my first food review. :)

We went to KL around 2 weeks ago, on our way back, since it is always our headache to dicuss and decide where to have lunch. This time, I suggested to use the GPS of my Omnia to lead the way to our lunch. I entered Melaka as destination and use the nearby function in GPS to locate the chicken rice stall(famous food in Melaka). Here it was, He Ji Chicken Rice. Since it was still early, we decided to follow the GPS and go for it. :)

When we were heading to the place, my hubby and I were teasing that the GPS might lead us to the right destination, but the shop might be closed. Guess what, it was really closed for the day when we finally found the place because the owner has something on! :( Luckily, there were other chicken rice shops nearby, so we decided to opt for the one that has crowd inside and there this was the place we went, 古城鸡饭粒. I am not too sure if the branch is listed on the website, because the address seems different, it was near Jalan Hastukari, but I cannot really remember if it is at the corner. However, their sign is very obvious, you should be able to get it easily. Do give me a reply or comment if you know what address it is (the branch nearest to He Ji Chicken Rice).

We ordered asam fish, 1 whole chicken (of couse, not just 2 of us, we were with our in-laws), tofu (for my little monster), veggie. The rice came in a ball shape as shown above, I had tried this type of chicken rice before in Geylang, Singapore but this Melaka one tastes much more better. The chicken were tendered, we all liked it except the fish. The smell of fish was still present, it was not quite fresh it seems. Anyway, the restaurant seems famous for chicken rice, so we bypass the fish this time. Tofu and veggie were normal, as expected, no surprise but ok to have. With chili, the chicken was tasty, even my mum-in-law had 2 bowls of rice. (she hardly have half a plate of rice back at home) :D

The restaurant is clean and they have a decoration in the backyard where you can dress up as chinese emperor to take picture. Washroom was not so clean but compared to other places I went, I considred this as moderate.

Overall, I think it was worth the trip to go.

Yoyogi Koen (Park) @ Tokyo

2008-09-19T12:01:00.001+08:00

My hubby took this video by using his handphone in July @ Yoyogi Koen, Tokyo. Resolution is not so good, but both of us like the music and the way they dance.
They just did not bother about the people / tourists around. They enjoy themselves very much it seems.
I doubt we will find these happen in Singapore.

Gas Station

2008-09-09T13:55:00.003+08:00

What is special here? The oil pump are hanging from top - Tokyo.

Handphone

2008-08-28T15:35:00.002+08:00

Was rushing down to Vivo to place an order for hand phone. I have never done this kind of thing before. Buying a hand phone just because my hubby likes it, and he has mentioned also my hand phone is old enough to throw away, hee.. but I check, my hand phone is still worth SGD 30 trade-in. For people like me, who needs phone just for call, sms, perhaps a more advance functionality, ie. a torch light function? A simple phone will suit me. :D

Still, I am looking for more things now as people do change. :) Well, if you suddenly are addictive to blogging about child or your own life, youtube. Then, a more advance phone might get you farther.

Change

2008-08-07T18:31:00.011+08:00

Was tasked to do coding in the recent project.
No other extra "overhead".
Suddenly feel relief in my life, going home everyday at around 6 - 630 pm.
Bringing baby back home every night, playing with him.

Just realize that life is so good without night conference.