MY HOME MY KITCHEN

I'm Back!

2016-04-29T13:48:00.001+08:00

Been more than 6 years away since the last post. What happened?!!!

One of the dearest person in my life, whom is also the inspiration to all these writings, was my grandfather; my Ah Gong.
(Managed to retrieve a video of ah gong from my old blog. Here's the Ah Gong I love)

I was pregnant in year 2009. Six months after the birth of my firstborn, my precious Ah Gong passed away. Devastated, I couldn't continue to this blog anymore.

Today, many things have changed. I've learnt to reflect a lot on life, mature as a person, and busy being a mom of 2. Life experiences shaped me with bitterness and sweet, and my expectation has grown so much and so different through these 6 years.

The past years, I was exposed to finer delicacies and my taste bud has grown better. Of course, it doesn't mean that it made me a much better cook than before, but I'm a wiser eater now. My preferences for food have also changed. I used to dislike onions, bitter gourd, and raw food like salmon. But now, onions are my favourite, I begin to appreciate Salmon belly and Tako, and I'll also go with dishes that has bitter gourd. (My life partner has a major influence on this, haha!)

However, I may have deteriorated with words as I could not produce creative thoughts like before or writing with a punch. Perhaps the enthusiasm as compared to what was initiated is different. Probably I just feel that I want to keep this blog, to keep it going, and penned down my life and food journey with my family.

Oh, and nowadays there are more mouths to feed, more kids' stuffs to meddle with, and more opinions sighted. These days our home are filled with all things sweet. Just last evening, we made ice cream. I have a few bottles of leftover fresh milk brought back from my bubble tea shop that's going to be closed for operation in May. (Yah, 4 years of long story on that) And I was toying with the idea of making cake or ice cream with the milk, don't waste it since I have almost all the ready ingredients at home.

So, here are my beautiful children!

Well, I did a no-frills recipe since I have no ice cream maker.

I did not add raw eggs in it as my kids are going to consume (casual thoughts about contamination, bacteria and all), but I did a research and heard it may taste better, so I'm going to try adding it the next time round.

And here's the ice cream recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup (245 grams) of whole milk

2 cups (230 grams) of heavy cream

3/4 cups (150 grams) of granulated sugar (I did mine at 100grams for the kids, lesser sugar)

Pinch of sea salt

1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract

1-2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (optional for chocolate ice-cream)

Method:

1. Combine milk, sugar and salt in a bowl. Whisk until combined and dissolved.

2. Stir in heavy cream.

3. Add vanilla extract and whisk.

4. (Optional) Add 1 or 2 tablespoonful of cocoa powder or more (adjust according to your preference), for chocolate ice-cream and whisk until dissolved.

5. Pour into popsicle/ice-cream mould, cups or freezer proof mixture container.

6. After an hour, check and stir the mixture to break up any frozen sections. Do it after every 30 mins for 3-4 times. (It will prevent crystals from forming in ice-cream instead of the soft creamy mixture)

7.Freeze overnight.

Enjoy!

Eating the exotic in old times

2009-10-11T14:00:00.006+08:00

Ever eaten a quail foetus???

We have heard of people eating dogs, rabbits, worms, bat and etc. Let's go through something more exotic...About eating things we would not have imagined and the selection of tender wild meat.

Singapore
Quail Foetus: The above picture cast a thought of an uncooked liquid quail egg. But in actual fact, there used to be many people eating baby quail foetus. In olden times, located at some Telok Ayer old houses, where quail nest rested on pillars, there were people who picked the quail eggs and observed under sunlight if baby quails were almost form in shape. Those foetus eggs were cooked and fried with chicken egg to go with rice. I heard the shape of the quail egg when being broke open to cook was an unborn baby quail foetus.

Photographed by Adrian Pingstone

Bat & Crocodile gall: It is quite a common sight of eating bat or crocodile gall to cure asthma. As eating bat meat is quite heaty, it should be consumed in balance according to one's body condition. Bat meat is available in Chinatown wet market, at those stores that sells frog meat. It is best cooked with sesame oil and ginger.

Cat & Dog: Dog should be eaten when it is at its tender age, about 1 year old, and cat should be eaten when at old age or as old as possible, so the meat will be tender. (Of course in current days sg, nobody could eat that, not only is it disgusting, gross & cruel to the animals, it should be against the law as well.)

Rat: The rats running beneath our HDB blocks are earth rat, they eat faeces and dirt and is a very dirty and poisonous kind of rat. Those rat that are running around fields or vegetable farm are edible, and those baby house rat in olden days attap house which are about under a week old, without fur and unopened eyes are edible. It is reddish on its outer skin, with little short tail. Once any fur is seen on its skin, it is deemed as inedible. The baby rat will be wrap with leave and fully dipped in condensed milk. While still alive, the whole rat is swallow down the throat, 'NO BITING IT, SWALLOW'! I was discussing this topic with grandpa and hence asked if my maid from Indonesia had ever tried it too. To my amaze, she did swallow baby rats before, when she was pregnant and before she delivers, her mum told her that it would make her strong.

Four legged lizard: In either brownish wooden colour or blackish colour, four legged lizard best catch is at 8-9 kgs (10kgs above are useless), cooking method is to boil with 'dang gui' until soft at approximately 11/2 hours. Cleanse the inner body to retain pureness.

Malaysia
Monkey Brains: Tied the monkey to the tree, shave bald its head, hammer a nail onto the head to make a hole to it. Use a straw to suck the brain until the monkey's eyes blinked until its death. Actually this is a rare case, as a nourishing nutrients to provide cure for certain sickness.

These are some of the factual cases people ate exotic, I find it real interesting.

A day or two in Malacca (Melaka)

2009-10-09T21:49:00.002+08:00

Spending a day or two in Malacca, a place of rich cultural and deem as the world's heritage city, we had to try all the popular dishes. Malacca, a place of Peranakan origin, is where the Nonya's and Baba's derive from the early Chinese traders that married the local Malays.

(The above pics is a cup of my morning coffee taken with a Calendar in the Hotel Rm) ;p

One of the must-try local dish is Satay Celup. It's steamboat dipping using satay gravy, and a wide range of food selections like cockles, fishball, meatball, abalone mushroom, lady finger, kang kong, preserved eggs, quail eggs, cuttlefish, wanton, 'you tiao', prawns and etc to choose. From our findouts, the black dot in the map below show the long queue & a little more pricey Satay Celup. As it happens to be a Saturday during our visit, we drop the idea of visiting it & shift our focus onto another, situated at Jalan Ong Kim Wee.

See the boxes in the circled zone, that's where we visited, its called Ban Lee Siang if I didn't remember or spelt wrongly. The box on the left was a newly opened one but the business wasn't very good. There is one (box) on the extreme left, which is also quite tasty and at value (hearsay from Melaka local).

Highly recommended by friends for a must-try, here we are for it!

Trays of food placed on the table served with many satay sticks of food. Those sticks with neutral colour cost at $0.50 per stick, and $0.60 for more expensive sticks at red colour. The staffs will keep replenishing the food, other addition ingredients not displayed are kept at the same brand name extended store on the adjacent.

It's definitely worth a try. But due to some hygiene purpose, some people might stay away from it. (The gravy was already there ready for the customer when they arrive.) However, the high heat might have killed any of the bacterias in it. Surely, in some backends of kitchens or street food are worst off?

The gravy will be replenish and stir-mix abt every 10-15 mins by the service staff.

Nights are inevitably shorter when it comes to holiday fun, so we gave no rest to our night arrival, and made our way to the night market on our full stomach of Satay Celup. Its approximately 15 mins walk from Jln Ong Kim Wee. The stretch of night street named Jonker Walk is situated at Jalan Hang Jebat.

From the start of our journey, we had our mouths on Cendol (Chendol). Malacca is famous for its black sugar. We ate at Bibik House Cendol for it was the first Cendol store we came across when we entered the junction (coming from Tan Cheng Lock way).

There was a tub of sweet gula (sugar) syrup serving. It was thick.

Totally inadvisable to add the sweet syrup as the Cendol itself was quite sweet. The sweet taste had already been pre-added. Overall, the Cendol was quite nice, there's also durian flavour.

RM$2.50 for Cendol, RM$3 for durian.

Along the walk to the long and fancy streets, these are quite the few things that I had eaten:

1) Fruit Sticks

I tried the grape flavour. It was very tasty. The purple grapes were crunchy and sweet (with seeds), and it was twirl-hug with what tasted like honey malt. Yummy!

Was feeling quite filled-up with all the food. Nonetheless, I did not give the kueh-like snacko a miss, as I didn't find this on the streets of Hong Kong, so I never had a chance to savour it. (This is a delight often starred in Hong Kong dramas where lovey-dovey bought when they are out dating at night.)

I had the Pandan flavour. It tasted like kueh, medium soft and tasted of coconuts. But nice! RM$1

Took some photos of food along the way...

Baskets of Siew Mais & Fishballs.

Oyster Pancake.

Geographer cafe - A popular 2-storey place for tourists to drop by for a drink or dance to the music in their casual attire. By the street, saw that there was a funeral parlour in the shophouse too. Very sad to see people mourning, the place is really not ideally situated as people are happily sightseeing just along the boundary of the roadside. The emotions are so huge contrast!

Many buns and bread were on sale too, just that those were fake ones. Still soft to the touch...

The bubble tea stalls had so many different kind of flavours.

Black sugar.

Uncle selling herbal tea by the roadside.

Different kinds of Pau.

I only know of Wife Biscuit, now I got to know of Husband Biscuit too.

Comes the second day, I regret to say I skipped breakfast. Either continental or american. But I found something interesting during my boring explore. At 124 TAMAN MELAKA RAYA. 75000 MELAKA

It will be difficult to predict what I had, as I had never tried this combination before. For a valued price at RM$3.50, this was a sumptuous meal, but not very filling thou'.

I ordered what i saw on the glass panel, but even the staff does not understand my order during my first order attempt. When came the lady boss, she double-confirmed what I wanted, and this made me wondered a little if it was a seldon/rare order from the norm. Whoohoo...I'm so gonna make this dish.

My order: "Dry version" Curry chicken feet mee (curry gravy, not the whole packet but for saucing), using wanton noodle. I told my partner about it, and brought him for his 2nd round, his lunch at this location again.

Trying something different instead of only popular dishes, my motive for holidays :)

Jonker Walk was our destination again for the 2nd day. Upon helpful direction, we make our way to find the popular chicken rice. Firstly, we reached the trademark point of San Shu Gong, as the chicken rice store is located beside it. The shop of San Shu Gong sells food and drinks as well as local-made food. (This time round we were at the other end of the street of Jonker Walk from the day before.)

There are more than one chicken rice store in red building along Jonker Walk, the other one is 'Gu Cheng' Chicken rice. But this was the one I went.

Part of the interior. The interior looks like an antique house out of swordsmen novel. Tastefully decorated with good feel.

Chicken rice was delicious.

Crossed after to the opposite of the road for the Nonya Cendol.

Cendol coconut milk was nice, and the green cendol tasted a little salty. Quite similar to the taste of what the Indians sell.

Evening when we are back to the shopping centre, Melaka Megamall , next to the Equatorial Hotel, we bought roasted chestnut, just in time to cure my crave of roasted chestnut I mentioned to have the day before.

Usually a pack of roasted chestnut will consist of 50% edibles and 50% non-edibles (not tasty or spoil).

This pack of Tianjin chestnut consist of about 75% edibles.

In Singapore, I loved to purchase roasted chestnut around Bedok North Ave 2 at Blk 511. And, the best roasted chestnut is in Japan, they had 100% edibles in all the packets, and yummy!

Here they sell sweet potatoes too, but its called honey sweet potato.

Before detouring, had dinner in Equatorial Hotel for its Nonya food. The settings were old traditional and the background was playing Malay music. The restaurant on the 3rd floor had won several times of best restaurants awards in Malaysia.

Since we had complimentary voucher for their famous Otah-Otah, we had a plate of 4 for free. Its texture was softer than our usual otah and heavily absorbed with coconut milk.

Out of the followings that we had ordered, we claimed the Sambal Belachan to be the best, followed by the Ayam Pongteh, a sweet black bean sauce stewed with chicken. The rest of the dishes were so-so. But it really depends on personal likings. The dishes weren't very warm too. The total bill came up to abt RM$120 for 4 persons.

Would definitely try other restaurants instead for the next visit. It was a fun short foody trip.

Cze Char at Jurong West Blk 651

2009-10-06T20:50:00.002+08:00

Not limiting ourselves to home-cooked food and being staying in the west zone, we have to dig food that are somewhat tasty & not-so-boring.

Located at Jurong west Blk 651, this open till late bustling coffeeshop sells many delicacies. I used to packet food from the cze char, its Fried Bee Hoon ('sin chow mi fen' 星州米粉) is excellent, however I didn't know if its still as tasty as before after its reno.

Hence, its a revisit for cze char craves that day.

Looking at the eye-catching yummy looking pics, 3 dishes were ordered to fill the hungry stomach.

The spring chicken does not fail to surprise with its flavour. Its tinted sauce is made with sweet shrimp paste. But of course due to the texture of the chicken & its skin that makes it works. Crispy yet tender, thumbs up! I would definitely love to make this on my own someday. But its has got to be 'spring chicken' to be yummy.

Next up was Japanese prawns with broccoli. Basically Japanese prawn here means flour coated fried prawns and wasabi. The prawns were not succulent, so leave no imagination to it, the wasabi was fine and not heavily dosed for this dish, but the broccoli was disappointing for its dryness (the texture was crunchy, so too dry doesn't taste yummy), at least some sauces or dippings for the broccoli will do fine.

The first 2 dish looks dry to me, hence the fish maw & crabmeat soup was ordered. Its soup tasted so-so. Hmm...

This 3 dishes cost slightly lesser than $50. Overall was neutral and good. Don't be too picky about food if we have to eat somewhere nearby. Will still go back again to 'da bao' food. :)

Appetizing Curry Vegetables

2009-10-02T22:58:00.011+08:00

Weekends coming..and we all love cooking those heavy flavourings. Very appetizing and goes slurping one bowl after another. Loves it!

Best selection of key ingredients

Cabbage: Select China Cabbage (bigger in size).

Potato: Choose Yellow Potato. Another type of darker potato is better served for cooking soup, and the ligher and fairer kinds of potato is the australian potato.

Ladyfinger: Choose where the end-edge is harder (able to pinch off the edge easily using fingers). This kind of ladyfinger is fresher.

Brinjal: The stem of the brinjal should preferably be greener instead of darkish brown colour, and the outer skin in strong deep purple colour. When press, the texture should be firm.

Recipe (Serve 8)

Cooking Tools:

Ingredients:

Vegetable curry paste - 2 pkts (400g: est. $4.40)

Lemon grass - 1 stalk (approx. 50 or 60 cents for 3 stalks)

Lime leaves - 6 pcs ($0.50 for a pack)

Cabbage (wash & cut)- 1/2 ($1.30)

Brinjal (wash & cut) - 1 whole (220g: est. $0.60)

Potato (skinned and cut) - 6 wholes (620g: est $1.30 for 8 wholes)

Ladyfinger (wash) - 8 stalks (approx. $0.60) [Note: Keep as a whole, cut ladyfinger soften easily]

Tau Pok (Cut) - 10 pcs ($1.10)

Quail Egg - 15

Coconut milk - 1 pkt (500g: $1.70)

Oil - 3 tablespoon
Water - 1.3 litre
Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt

Preparation

Split Coconut Milk into 2 bowls. Add the first bowl of coconut milk with 300ml of water. Leave the other bowl as it is.
Boil Quail Egg over medium heat. Remove after 10 mins, peeled shells and leave aside.

Method

1. Heat wok and Oil. Add Vegetable curry paste to fry. Add lemon grass and lime leaves as well. (Medium heat)

2. Add potato to wok & fry.

3. Add a pinch of salt. Fry evenly.

4. Pour ingredients from wok into pot.

5. Pour the bowl of coconut and water mixture. (Note: 1st half bowl)

6. Set 1 litre of water into pot and boil for a min (High heat).

7. Add sugar and stir.

8. Add a pinch of salt and stir.

9. Add brinjal & ladyfinger. Mix well.

10. Taste gravy (add condiments to taste if needed), cover lid to boil for another min.

11. Check gravy and stir, cover up to heat for half a min.

12. Add cabbage, mix well and cover lid for 5 mins.

13. Add taupok & quail egg. Mix well and cover lid for 5 mins.

14. Add the bowl of coconut milk (without water mix). (Note: 2nd half bowl)

15. Cook for a min and is ready to serve.

Char Siew Fried Rice & Cabbage

2009-09-30T14:46:00.005+08:00

Hungry for fried rice?!?! Select the best char siew for the golden fried rice...

Char Siew is a common traditional ingredient use for adding taste and meaty content bites out of a boring plate of fried rice. It can be stored and kept in a fridge for at most 2 to 3 days.

Selecting good char siew for the cooking can enhance the flavour in the food, and this common ingredient will soon be transform into an admirable lead ingredient.

Selection

Char Siew:
1) Select 'fatty' Char Siew. On a fatty char siew, the outer reddish part of its texture should be softer than a non-fatty one. (A non-fatty Char Siew's meat looks tough and hard) And when cut, there is a transparent whitish layer in between the inner meat & the outer meat (reddish part). - this reveals that it belongs to the fatty Char Siew.

2) Select Char Siew that are charbroiled instead of fried. Char siew that is charbroiled has black burnt patches on its outer reddish skin, whereas fried Char Siew has a deeper red colour than the fatties one and without those dark charcoaled-burnt black patches.

Cabbage:
Choose Beijing cabbage (smaller in size) for cooking. The China cabbage (bigger in size) is most suitable for cooking with soup or using as the main ingredient for making popiah. [Note: China cabbage is harder and will takes longer time to smother]

Recipe (Serves 5)

Preparation:

Store leftover rice / or prepare cooked rice a day before and store in fridge. Overnight rice tends to look and taste better as each grain of rice will be separated well (most individually), and does not result in sticky clumps, thus performance in taste will be raised.

Ingredients:

Rice (Uncooked - 3 1/2 plastic cups) / Overnight rice

[Note: personal selection is Pagoda Rice (皇族安培娜香米)
$13.80 - 5kgs, $24.80 - 10kgs]

[Note: cooked rice (sealed or covered) can be kept in fridge for 2-3 days]

Char Siew ($3)

Cabbage ($1 / 1 whole)

Eggs (5, beaten added with 1 1/2 teaspoons of light soy sauce and tiny pinch of ajinomoto)

Frying Rice

Oil (4 tablespoons) [Note: When frying rice, it should not be over oily]
Garlic (5 cloves)
Fine Salt (1 tablespoon)
Ajinomoto (1/3 teaspoon)

Frying Cabbage

Oil (3 tablespoons)
Garlic (4 cloves)
Fine Salt (1 teaspoon)
Ajinomoto (1/3 teaspoon)

Method

Prepare wok for frying rice:

1. Heat wok and oil (small heat), fry garlic until fragrance / semi-golden.

2. Add Cooked Rice into the wok and fry. (Use high heat)

3. Add eggs and stir-fried until even golden yellow. (Usually the rice will form small clumps after adding eggs, press and flatten the rice using the turner)

4. Add Char Siew.

5. Add Salt and ajinomoto. Taste.

6. The rice is ready when it is jumping/popping on the wok (by the side, or in the middle of the wok).

7. Ladled rice and place into cooker to keep warm.

Prepare wok for frying vegetables:

1. Heat oil and wok and fry garlic. (Small heat)

2. Fry vegetables until soften. (Medium Heat) Turn off fire at approx. 15 mins.

Ready to serve.

Note: The cabbage is a good complement to the fried rice.

Bee Tai Bak / 'Mi Tai Mu' (米台目) Chinese Rice Noodle in Spicy Dry Version

2009-09-28T22:55:00.008+08:00

Have we not tried before this Bee Tai Bak (米台目) at any hawker centre or coffeeshop selling fishball or minced meat noodle store?

Yes for the soupy version, but presumedly the dry version only at stores selling fried bee hoon or mixed vegetable rice (什菜饭).

So far, I've never seen or tasted the dry & spicy version. This delectable dish is what we desired in most afternoon during our lunch at home.

It's cheap & tastiness guaranteed! For about $3 for 3 persons serving, this is how its prepare.

Recipe (Serves 3)

Ingredients:

Bee Tai Bak ($1 or per packet)
Green vegetables (Xiao Bai Cai / 'Bak Choy' 小白菜) ($0.70 per pkt /$1.10 for 2 pkts) / (Or Bean sprouts)
Fishball ($1 per pack) / (Minced meat or, & Prawn based on personal likings)
Shrimps (2 tablespoons)
Chilli Padis (8 strips)

Salt (To taste)
Ajinomoto (added on preference)
Dark Soy Sauce (2 tablespoons)
Oil / (Pork lard with Oil) (approx. 7-8 tblespns)
Water (one pot)

Method

1. Pound Chilli Padis and Shrimps together until semi-fine.

2. Wash & Cut Vegetables. Heat a wok of water and boil vegetables for approx. 3 mins (Cook in hot water but not in boiling bubble form). Ladlen up vegetables and place aside. (If using bean sprouts - this step is not required)

3. Heat wok & Oil. When heated, fry the pounded Chillis & Shrimps to fragrance using small medium heat. (approx. 1-2 mins)

4. Add Bee Tai Bak and stir-fry.

6. Place in Fishballs & Vegetables to wok. (Alternatively, prawns or bean sprouts here)

7. Add Dark soy sauce to wok.

8. Lastly, sprinkle salt to taste. Add ajinomoto, if you prefer.

It doesn't matter if this dish should be only serve hot. This spicy dry Bee Tai Bak is definitely simple to prepare, less effort taken and wham....a dish prepared in mins....a something else from the usual maggi mee stuffs. Yes, there should be a tad bit of oiliness in it; as a component of its tasty factor. Try it & like it!

Sweet Potato Dessert Soup

2009-09-25T09:49:00.007+08:00

Sweet potatoes, as we have seen in many classic movies and dramas, belongs to the food for the poor. Yesterday morning, I found the truth through conversation between my grandfather and an uncle from Malaysia who is lacquering our doors.

I got to know that many people could not even afford to eat one sweet potato during wartimes. They had to hide the sweet potato they are having, find and dig a hole and bury it. Times were hard, and commodities were not easily available.

It cost about 7 or 8 cents to buy 1kg of sweet potatoes in the past, and had slowly risen to 10 cents or more, and until now it had inflated so much.

There is much historical meaning behind each kind of food, as well as knowledge into food selection and I'm still deepening to explore it.

Now, let's source for good ingredients and start boiling!

Selection

Sweet Potato:

Choose from Indonesia instead of Malaysia as it is sweeter in nature. Indonesia sweet potatoes are tastier to boil for dessert soup. The purple-coloured kind of Japanese sweet potato is best cook by steaming or baking method.

Recipe (Serve 5-6)

Ingredients:

(Note: Add Tapioca based on likings - 1 whole)
Pandan leaves ($0.40 from supermarket, requested Free when buying at vegetable store in wet market)

Sweet Potato - average size; approximately 2 kg in totalling of 6 or 7 pieces (About $3 supermarket price)

Sugar (10 tablespoons)
Water (2 litres)

Method

1. Wash pandan leaves thoroughly and tie a handful bunch with a single pandan leave into knots.

2. Skined the Sweet Potatoes, break or chipped it and put aside. (Note: do not cut potato into neat chunks, instead sliced an inch deep and break it away into coarse edge using a knife as shown in the picture below.) / (Peeled Tapioca if any, and cut into pieces)

3. Place knotted pandan leaves and sweet potatoes (or tapioca, if any) to boil with water in a pot at medium or high heat.

4. Remove pandan leaves after 5 minutes.

5. Mix sugar into pot.

6. Boil for 15 minutes.

Ready to serve. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato ~ Best consume on its baked or steamed own / sweet dessert soup / sweet potato porridge

Salad Tuna Sandwich

2009-09-24T05:53:00.011+08:00

A crunchy, healthy and colourful salad sandwich to brighten the start of your day...

Breakfast are optimal energy booster in the morning. It improves metabolism in the body, and is a no-no to skip even for any dieter.

Usually I prefer my deli in the morning to be light yet fulfilling. I love to have bread with different kinds of spread; like peanut butter, orange jam or kaya with butter. Often I like sipping a cuppa milo and dipping all sorts of biscuits into it, and my own preferences would be McVities Digestive Biscuits, Marie Biscuits or Oreo Cookies.

For home-cooked I will opt for porridges, and for packet food from nearby coffeeshops, I'll take breakfast like fried beehoon or vegetarian bee hoon. Some alternate times, l'll also be whipping up a continental breakfast or buying our all-time favourite american breakfast from McDonald's or BurgerKing.

I do experience cravings during some mornings for Delifrance or Subway. This is when my thoughts swerve into a state of rich taste savoring my mouth, with my favourite wrap of food in croissant or baguette.

To satisfy my tastebud with a simple and rich fulfilling one, salad tuna sandwich will be my choice. It is an express light meal and all food items are easily handy and dandy.

Note: Tuna may be substituted with chicken, prawns or any other favourite. (The amount of food included depends on personal likings)

Recipe
Ingredients:

Tuna
Cheese
Lettuce
Tomato
Bread

Dressing:

Thousand Island / or Mayonnaise with Sweet Chilli Sauce

Method

1. Lay Lettuce on the Bread.
2. Scoop Tuna and place on the Bed of Lettuce.
3. Cut Tomatoes and garnish.
4. Scatter Cheese pieces on top of the bread.
5. Top Thousand Island dressing sparsely.

Ready to serve. Enjoy!

Fragrant Banana & '40-days Banana'

2009-09-23T21:59:00.000+08:00

This is a bunch of '40-days Banana' (四十日蕉), and there's an interesting link behind its name...

There are a few varieties of this tropical fruit - Banana, such as the Red Bananas (红牙蕉), the Green Bananas (青牙蕉), the Indonesia Bananas: Green Bananas that eventually turn yellow, and the Fragrant Bananas (香-蕉): a typical type of yellow banana that is relatively shorter in length, and sweeter without acerbic taste texture.

These '40-days bananas', which are also category of Fragrant Bananas (grown from the same tree) are the first few bunches of bananas growing out of the red flower from its banana tree in a drooping manner. They are considerably shorter in length than the others fragrant bananas in the same tree, measuring at about 3 inches or lesser.

Besides being a nutritious and healthy fruit with a good content of potassium and other various vitamins and minerals, Bananas are personally my favourite topping choice for ice-cream and Banana cakes tucked great taste of mild banana scent into me too. Please check out more Banana recipes under Fruity section and do enjoy!

Recipe Collections

2009-09-09T22:08:00.009+08:00

Recipe Collections are expanding soon. Please be patient.

Thank you!

Appetizer & Snacks

Salads & Vegetables

Soup & Stew

Seafood & Fish

Poultry & Meats

Fast Food & Burgers

Rice, Noodles & Pasta

Grains, Beans & Nuts

Egg & Cheese

Sauces & Dips

Herbs & Spices

Fruits & Dessert

Sweet Potato Dessert Soup

Bakes & Flour

Bio

2009-09-09T09:45:00.038+08:00

Hello There! Cookery begins when I'm at a lollipop age tendering my granny's half-cooked food in her kitchen. Inherited from her genes, I'm a natural-borne cook, which announces my first attempt to cook on my own during secondary school days at age thirteen, a foody success.

I am thankful to have my dearest grandparents to guide me through my humble culinary. Though I still have a lot more to learn from the world of cooking, I believe that effort, expectation and experiences with a creative mind and distinct sensory taste will bring all for the best in food flavor from any ingredients utilized.

Being a glutton, I love to swipe every single type of flavor on my tastebud - Sweet, Sour, Salty, Spicy and Bitter!

I'm always having daily adrenaline craves for sweet treats like chocolates, ice-creams, cheesecakes and chinese sweet dessert. My mood of the day never turns sour when I get to enjoy a cup of soursop drink or a bowl of sour soup for enjoyment. Salty food or its ingredients are my daily staple for each meal and french fries with a pinch of salt makes my day. Spicy, has been my lifetime companion since young, I'm never afraid to conquer chilli padi, tabasco or sambal belachan, and yes, I do take wasabi to go with sushi. Sadly, I never like the taste of bittergourd, bitter medicine or almost anything bitter, except for King of Fruits, Durians!

I started this blog dedicated to my newly renovated home & kitchen, which I totally adore. Instead of fantasizing about imaginery new recipe ideas while waiting for the kitchen to be fully ready, I decided to prep this food blog with the content groundwork first before it takes off together with post entries when the kitchen is steaming.

For another good reason, I wanted to consolidate all of the home-cooked food recipes into a good area, somewhere I can share & admire instead of eaten and forgotten.

Of course, my adventure will extend wildly beyond the comfort zone of my home my kitchen to places where I dig food, so I could bring more creation & addition to recipe.

As I love food and pig out like nobody's business with only gaining fats and calories do I unreluctantly opt for a low carb one, my weight is usually moving like yo-yo. I am mostly and habitually seen vacuuming all my plates and bowls leaving without traces of food or a single grain of rice - a good cultivation since young, but a big disliker of food waster, it makes me. I could even wake up in the middle of the night to finish a few bowls of porridge with side dishes, or any leftover kuehs or coconut-contented food that will turn sour and spoil over the next few hours, so that those food could be salvaged from going down the bin chute.

I have my share of this wonderful work with the universe, I hope readers who pop by could offer me their views on improvising dishes or exchanging ideas on interesting new delicacies.

Let's begin on a Gastronomic Affair with me...