Casual dinner last night

Went to friend's place to make a simple dinner - soy bean paste fish, nai bai stir fried with oyster sauce and fish soup with radish.

All done in about an hour thirty minutes time. Not too bad. I did the fish and nai bai while my friend did the fish soup.

The soy bean paste fish was a bit too salty. Will have to try it again but the other two dishes were good.

So, I guess, I can cook some :)

Soy bean paste fish

Stir fried nai bai with oyster sauce

Fish soup with radish

Would you come for dinner?

Porcupine, wanted to ask if you'd like to come over for dinner tonight. But knowing how things are at the moment, probably I already know your answer before I could even ask.

I will be going to our friend's place tonight to make miso paste fish fillet. Hope you'll have a good dinner later tonight too.

Last Saturday, we had an excellent crab party. Wish you could have been there too. We had delicious yummy crabs,  my 'famous' stir-fried tang hoon, gelato and great company.

Wonder where you'd usually have your dinners but you'd never open up much on your johari window. Sigh. Why the secrecy. Guess I'll never know.

The tira with no misu

My first attempt at this lovely Italian dessert was not to be... I wanted to try my hand at it and went about to 'collect' the ingredients and borrowed a whisking machine from friend.

The steps looked easy and thought I could once again marvel at my success in the kitchen chemistry but alas, the outcome was disappointing. The taste was right but the texture was all wrong. Either I had under whisked the eggs and cream or I had done a too damn good a job at it....

I was told getting the tiramisu right was not an easy task and guess I had to be proven right again.

Will try my hands at this again and hopefully, I'd be second time lucky.

Brunch came early

This week I went for brunch with an ex-colleague on Saturday instead of my usual Sunday gig.

We went to try out Wimbly Lu and Jules cafe at Jalan Riang. And I enjoyed myself and am glad I came out for a fulfilling meal and good company.

Albeit it was wet and rainy, but the weather did not dampen our spirits and we had fun catching up, eating and laughing.

Brunch at Wimbly Lu for me was SST - smoked salmon on toast with scrambled eggs and a good cup of skinny latte. We even got to meet Wimbly and Lu. The owners of the outfit. Very nice ladies and my company poured on compliments for the coffee and we made small talks.

After round 1, the greedy in me coaxed my ex to go for a second round at Jules where I had eggs remy (a rendition of eggs ben except leeks and other veg were used instead of ham) while my company had risotto, which both were good. The skinny latte here was not too bad but I think I prefer the one at Wimbly Lu.

We parted ways later after a 3 hour marathon of brunch and more brunch.

It was a good day.

Girl, Domesticated. Kitchen Affairs: Episode #8

Been awfully slacking in posting my adventures in the kitchen but will give it a shot today. Yesterday's attempt was my first time trying three dishes in one go. All pretty manageable and no major mishap except I forgot to par boiled the bittergourd first before frying it. Luckily I hadn't thrown them in the wok first so there was a slight delay while I inserted the par boiling step. I also forgot to fry with butter instead of using olive oil. So although this time around, the salted egg was salty enough to coat the bittergourd, frying with butter would make the dish much more tastier.

Salted egg bittergourd

Everything else turned out well.

The minced pork with olive leaves was just as good as I had expected and it well really well with rice. Next time, if I'd be repeating this dish, will try with chili padi to give it some extra kick and hold back on the olive oil as the oil leaves itself already came with ample oil.

Minced pork with olive leaves

The scramble egg with tomato was really good and the consistency was what I expected it to be - not too dry and the taste was just as sweet as I had expected it to be. Next round, will cut back on adding the sugar and just put in extra tomatoes to let natural sweetness take its course.

Scrambled eggs with tomato

Let's see what other inspirations I can hit with and hope to be back in the kitchen sooner than expected.

Girl, Domesticated. Kitchen Affairs: Episode #3

New Year, New Beginnings. And here's the new project.

Back in the kitchen today to try out the salted egg yolk bittergourd and tom yam paste fried prawns. The first was inspired after tasting this delicious dish at a day trip with friends in Pengerang, Malaysia. The second is to try and use up the leftover tom yam paste I had from previous episodes while trying to cook up a tom yam paste pasta.

Tom Yam paste fried prawn

Salted Egg Yolk bittergourd

The tom yam one turned out really well. It was yummy and if I'm doing it again next round, will deshell the prawns.

The salted egg yolk bittergourd was a slight disappointment as it was not as tasty as expected. I should have added some salt as I didn't know mum had bought the 'not so salty' kind of salted egg. Thus, it came out tasting a bit bland.

All in all, pretty satisfied with the results and glad I did this to kickstart my 1 Jan 2012.

Till the next cooking adventure, happy lunching.

Oh and I forgot, yesterday, I also tried my hand at a dessert. Snow fungus soup with longan and ginkgo nuts. Originally intended to make this for somebody but somehow, it became my last project for 2011 and I ate it myself. It was a success, nevertheless.

Snow fungus soup with longan and ginkgo nuts

Girl, Domesticated. Kitchen Affairs: Episode #2

I did it again. After a long 'hiatus' after my first kitchen affair, I'm back.

Inspired by a dish I ate when in US on a road trip, I googled and experimented the receipe and will try my best to replicate it. Tom Yam pasta.

Last attempt was a few weeks back which got the thumbs up from the folks at home, and today, I will try it yet again to feed my fellow runners.

Hope it'd turn out well and they'd like it.

Calling for the inner chef in me, don't be shy today and come out and play...

Dim Sum @ Taste Paradise

Recently, I've been asked where's a good place to have a nice dim sum. I do have my own personal list but I must say, Taste Paradise is definitely getting a new high ranking position as of today.

We tried all the usual suspects from har gaw, cheong fun, carrot cake etc etc.

But this glutinous rice in lotus leaf is definitely top notch. I'm not an expert on glutinous rice but I do think it's even better than the one I had in Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong which was awarded a one-Michelin star recently.

Everything was really good - tasty and done very well with 'delicate handy work' and most importantly, the price was not too bad for the food and ambience you're paying for.

Very classy utensils

Don't you love the china...

Fried carrot cake with XO sauce

Char Siew pastry buns

Prawn dumpling with chives

Steamed bun with the yellow custard sauce oozing out

Cheong fun with scallop fillings

Budding food photographer

Some of my recent attempts at making others drool over food pictures. Taken during a recent trip to Hong Kong, I've submitted them for a contest at this site in Facebook. Hope I win something or at least have some admirers to these pictures... .

Glutinous rice with chicken from Tim Ho Wan, Yau Ma Tei in Hong Kong

Black sesame bean curd sago soup, from Aunty Sweet in Tin Hau, Hong Kong

Strawberry crepe from UCC Coffee Shop in Harbour City, Hong Kong

Girl, Domesticated. Kitchen Affairs: Episode #1

My first attempt to make poached eggs and I'm pleasantly surprised and proud to say, it's a success.

Next to work on is probably presentation.... but after a good morning's workout, all I want to do is fill my hungry stomach. Bon Appetit!

Ingredients to make poached eggs

The result: A perfectly poached egg

The way I like it - with a runny yellow center

Chinese Heritage Museum

My favourite display at the museum. Had a fun time trying to identify the variety of food.

Dinner @ Pamplemousse

Lucky me, to know someone who has a friend who's a budding chef. Was treated to scrumptious dinner and this is the appetizer. Scallop carpaccio. Taken with my trusty Canon S90.

Thai fish cake in SF

Dinner in SF at a Thai restaurant. I couldn't resist taking the shot with Robert's Canon EOS 550D.

I love eggs benedict.

Doesn't this just make you drool?:) Credits to me for the delicious shot but with compliments from Robert's Canon EOS 550D.

Budding photographer

At the last GMS in SF, I helped myself to my colleague's Canon EOS 550D. Here are some of the shots I took. Needless to say, most of it related to food, would be my handy work:)

Bali Dreams

It was a good trip.  A much anticipated one, albeit it started off badly for me. Left my passport in the office, bringing the wrong type of rupiah currency and having so much work left unfinished... but I guess if you have to go, you have to go.

What I liked most about the trip was probably the villa. It was a great idea to rent one for the 4 days we were there since we had a group of 7 people. The location of the villa was a tad 'far out' as it was about a 25-30mins drive to the more happening places like Kuta, Seminyak areas where pubs, shopping and crowds were a plenty. But the enjoyment was that the whole place was for ourselves and that we could eat, drink, swim and chill in the same place, any time, any way we want it, was really cool.

Oh, and not to forget the chauffeur who was available to bring us into the 'city'.

The outdoors activities were also not too bad, although I had serious 'butt' issues after the cycling exercise. Guess my ass needs extra padding the next time I ever try to do it again.

I definitely hope we get to do this again.... together.

My Big 5 for 2010 - cont'd

Five things that need to happen by the end of this year for you to feel its been your best year yet.

It's harder than I thought but here goes. In no particular order....

*Finish 10KM in Dec within 55mins or less and complete at least one 5KM run in 25mins

*Help others - find time for volunteer work and/or do something for others

*Research on a topic and post my findings on my blog at least once a quarter

*Identify my personal values and develop a mission statement for life

And one more to go.... any suggestions?

My Big 5 for 2010

Five things that need to happen by the end of this year for you to feel its been your best year yet.

It's harder than I thought but here goes. In no particular order....

*Finish 10KM in Dec within 55mins or less and complete at least one 5KM run in 25mins

*Help others - find time for volunteer work and/or do something for others

*Research on a topic and post my findings on my blog at least once a quarter

I haven't quite figured out what my last two should be... but hopefully in the next month or so, I'd be greatly inspired by something or someone to pen down my big 5 for 2010.

Wish me luck!

Ministry of Food

View Larger Map

Ministry of Steak

View Larger Map