Cooking skills: Level up
Posted on: May 22, 2013
- In: Chef-capade | Family | Mr Toh
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Been practicing my cooking during the weekends, I really find it fun. Heh.
What I cooked on Saturday.
Barbequed chicken drumsticks because we still have some leftovers.
[Recipe]
Ingredients:
Servings: 6
1133.98 g chicken legs
24.69 ml olive oil (to help it stop sticking to the pan)
118.29 ml soy sauce
24.69 ml ketchup
177.44 ml honey
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Place chicken in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Mix together the oil, soy sauce, ketchup, honey, garlic, salt and pepper.
3. Pour over the chicken.
4. Bake in preheated oven for one hour, or until sauce is caramelized.
5. Could also use wings or pork ribs.
I marinated the drumsticks for about an hour before cooking.
Here, they are waiting to go in the oven~
When they were half done, I took them out to flip them over. Looks nice right?!
Err, sadly the skins were kinda burnt by the time I was done with them. I forgot to take them out of the oven after they were done! Goodness, I am so stupid I don’t even know what to say. =(
Mr Toh said it’s a waste of the drumsticks as he could taste the flavour in the meat and it’s good! Just no skin and a little burnt + dry. =( Will be careful next time!
Long bean egg omelet~ One of my favourites. So simple and so yummy.
So, while on the way home ytd, I kept thinking about what a mess the study room is in, cannot take it anymore. When I got home, I started the clothes washing in the washing machine 1st.
Then I started tidying up and cleaning the study, took me about 1 hour plus. When Mr Toh got back, he was pleasantly surprised and asked who tidied it up. Me lah! Who else! Lol. =P
After tidying it up, I cooked Thai Basil Minced Pork for Mr Toh~ I felt like a superwoman. =D
[Recipe]
Ingredients:
Servings: 2-3
200 g ground pork
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons red Thai chile, pounded
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup water or 1/4 cup pork stock
1/2 cup Thai basil, fresh chopped
Directions:
1. In a hot pan, add the oil and stir fry garlic and chili until fragrant.
2. Add pork and continue to stir fry on medium heat until almost ready.
3. Keep stir frying and add pork stock as needed.
4. Add oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar.
5. Increase heat to high and add fresh thai basil. Keep stir frying for few seconds.
6. Serve with white basmati rice and fried eggs.
Final product!
Mr Toh very happy yesterday, he said his colleague bought thai basil minced pork for dinner and he was thinking if there’s no dinner at home, he will buy that for his dinner as well.
When he called to ask me if I cooked, I said yes and he was secretly a little disappointed. But when he got home and saw what I cooked, he was like, “老婆真有我的心,真了解我!!”. Lol!!
BUT. I added too much chilies, ended up the meat was too spicy. OOPS. Felt so bad for my poor Mr Toh. =( But I will improve, I swear!
Wore my new shoes out today! So pretty! Thanks to Huiyi for helping with the shipping, wee!!
Bought a few more things from TB for home organization too. Awesome~~
We went to Marina Square and Suntec to walk walk on Sunday. Also to collect our free Samsung 39 inch TV! So thankful for Wilson who drove us.
Ended with dinner at Ah Seah Teochew porridge and a trip to NTUC.
Suddenly remembered one funny thing that happened the other day.
We bought Ristorante frozen pizzas from Giant as there was a promotion. *auntie*
I was carrying the plastic bags when Mr Toh offered to help me carry them.
When he took them, he remarked, “Wah, so heavy.”
I said, “Yah lah, because of your prata lah!”
Omg. I meant to say pizza!! *faints* LOL. Fail sia.
Thai Spicy Minced Pork
Posted on: May 16, 2013
Decided to cook this for Mr Toh the other day. We didn’t have basil so I searched for a recipe that didn’t need one and found 1!
[Source]
Ingredients
1 brown onion, quartered (I used red onion)
2 garlic cloves
2 small fresh red chillies, stems removed and halved
1 small ripe tomato, quartered
1/2 tsp shrimp paste (optional)
2 tsp sesame oil
500g lean pork mince
1 tbs fish sauce
1 lemon or lime, juiced
1 tbs soft brown sugar or palm sugar
2 tbs finely chopped fresh coriander (I omitted this)
3 green shallots, finely chopped (I omitted this)
Steamed Jasmine rice, to serve
As I’m only cooking for Mr Toh, I used only 250g of minced pork and half of the other ingredients.
Method
Step 1 : Place the onion, garlic, chillies, tomato and shrimp paste in a food processor or blender and process until just roughly chopped. (I didn’t have a food processor so I just used my knife to chop everything together on the chopping board)
Step 2: Heat sesame oil in a large frying pan over high heat, add the onion mixture and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 3: Add the pork mince and cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring often, until mince meat is cooked and aromatic.
Step 4: Stir in fish sauce, lime or lemon juice and sugar and mix. Add coriander and shallots just before serving. Serve in lettuce leaves as an entree or with rice as a main course.
It looks OK but Mr Toh didn’t like it. He said it’s not that I cooked it badly, it’s just that the flavors didn’t appeal to him.
Err, personally, I didn’t like it either, thought it was a tad too sour.
Mr Toh remarked that this was a bit like tom yam, sour and spicy and he doesn’t like his meat cooked this way. So. This recipe goes in the bin. Hehe.
Maybe this weekend I will try stir fry minced pork with basil! Just got to buy the fresh basil leaves 1st. Hopefully I can find them in Cold Storage.
Hot tea in the morning~
Selca~
OFTD for the day~
We went walking around the airport shopping area~
Fresh milk in glass bottle, the bottle so nice I almost wanted to steal it. =X
Super cute One Piece watche, would love to buy it but too cutesy already.
Almost wanted to buy this as well but I realised there’s nowhere to hang at home.
The tour guide brought us shopping at the duty free outlet near the airport, Rera Chitose Outlet Mall. Shopping time!
Took a pic of the shuttle bus timings so we don’t miss the bus back to the airport~!
Saw this lady with so many dogs, so cute! There were a lot of shops selling dog stuff but quite expensive.
Lunch @ Mos Burger! Nearing Christmas so the shops were all decked out in Christmas decorations, so got feel!
Menu~
Milk tea, add your own milk and sugar~
Corn soup served in a proper bowl, quite amazed by this. *suaku*
My fish burger~ Got hooked on fish in Japan. o.O
Fried chicken. So-so only.
The meal worked out to be around SGD$20 for the 2 of us. Not very cheap, slightly more expensive than Singapore.
One Piece puzzles at duty free outlets. Really quite cheap! Wanted to buy 1 back to SG for our home but I couldn’t decide.
Ramen shop that the tour guide introduced to us.
Not bad lah but I find the meat portion too big and very jelat after a while so I couldn’t finish it. It’d be perfect for Mr Toh though. Heh. This was perfect for the weather though~
Hot vending machine at our hotel lobby! Zann tried the fried rice I think, like not bad. The last hotel we stayed at was the Air Terminal Hotel. The rooms here were smaller but still clean.
Bought this cheesecake at the last minute before boarding the plane because I wanted it to be as fresh as possible for my Mr Toh!
It was awesome, really good and very fragrant!
There’s a charging station at the boarding area, so considerate. xD
Byebye Japan~ I will miss you!
Airplane food that came in a wooden box. Very pretty packing.
Looks great right?! But cold bento I don’t like. I felt that only the egg was nice. T_T
And that ends our adventure in Hokkaido. I cannot wait to go back seriously. Thoroughly enjoyed our time there, not to mention this was my first time seeing snow. Shiok.
Thank you Hokkaido for your hospitality. I love you!! I will be back. <3
Happy Birthday to Mummy!!
Posted on: May 13, 2013
- In: Birthdays | Family | Foodie-logue | Mothers' Day
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Yay, today is my Mummy’s birthday! Pre-celebrated her birthday yesterday together with Mothers’ Day~ Every year, we get to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Hehehe.
Brought Mummy to this zi char stall at Ang Mo Kio. Chose AMK because it was more convenient for Da-sao~~ I’ve seen good reviews so I thought it was worth a try.
When we reached, there was sooo many people! But luckily, because I had placed a reservation, there was a table reserved for us. I heard them turning away people who arrived earlier but didn’t place reservations. Whew!
Browsed through the menu and ordered our food. But it was gonna be at least an hour’s wait for the food. Still, we weren’t rushing anywhere after dinner so we waited.
Ordered a total of 6 dishes. No pictures because we were starving by the time the food came.
Dong Po Rou (pork belly) – Medium $18 (IIRC)
Not bad! The pork was well braised and the fats melted in the mouth and the sauce was flavourful but not too salty. Came with a side of vegetables as well.
Deep-fried Prawn Ball with Pumpkin and Butter Sauce – Medium $23
Their signature dish, this was awesome. Mr Toh who is allergic to prawns ate a 2nd prawn after trying 1. This is how I know it’s really good. He won’t risk his throat being itchy for nothing. The prawns were crispy and the sauce was awesome. Addictive and not overly jelat. Also came with a side of kai lan stems. Yum~~
Stir Fried Kailan with Garlic – Small $9 (IIRC)
Normal, at least the veg was well cooked and tender. Much better than what we had at Ding Tai Fung. Hahaha!
Beancurd with Conpoy and Golden Mushroom – Medium $10 (IIRC)
Super love the beancurd!! The bottom of the beancurd was crispy and had the nice fragrant smell (ehm, don’t really know how to describe it), you have to try it~
Salted Egg Yolk Crab – $65
This was a tad expensive I felt as there was only 1 crab but it was biiig! The crabs were being sold at a fixed price, there was a range of prices from $50 plus to $70 plus and I chose the $65 one. Thought that the crab was just nice for the 6 of us, 1 piece each.
Mummy commented the crab was very fresh and the flesh was firm. Thumbs up~!
Thai Style Butter Sotong – $10
This was the last dish to arrive, by then we were stuffed because the dishes came at intervals. T_T But we still finished it! Proves how good it was. Crispy and yummy.
While making payment, the cashier was very apologetic for the long wait. Mr Toh asked if they were expecting this crowd and she said that they were featured in the newspaper but didn’t know it and were caught off guard by the huge crowd. She then said the white rice (S$3) will be FOC as way of apology for the long wait. (Mummy say so little! LOL!)
Total damage was $135. Overall, I enjoyed the food but the wait was really too long. However I will not hesitate to return on normal days. This is a stall worth trying! Great customer service as well, very smiley and friendly even with the huge crowd ytd.
Kam Jia Zhuang Seafood
Blk 202 Ang Mo Kio Ave 3, #01-1690
Singapore 560202
Tel: 91516798
Huiyi bought a strawberry shortcake from Rive Gauche, it’s soooo pretty! Cake was fluffy and moist too. A bit too much cream though but still delish~ We only had it after our meal so Mr Toh asked the staff if they could hold it in the fridge for us and they gladly did, they also switched off the fan above our table so we could light the candle. I love the good service here!
Leah~~ She was glued to her ipad almost the whole evening. She has quite a few expressions, super cute lah!
Occasionally, she will also smile to herself while watching but I didn’t manage to snap a picture of it. Super cute. Very naughty girl also. She doesn’t really like to call us but when Dasao asked her where is Ah Ma, she pointed at Mummy. Lol.
Only left the coffeeshop at 9pm, whoa. So tired. Tired from waiting. T_T
Went to the market @ Punggol Plaza with Mummy on Saturday to do some grocery shopping. Told her I felt like cooking salmon and she said “喜欢吃就买咯.” =D Cooked it asian style to suit Mummy’s tastebuds as she’s also afraid of the fishy smell.
Lovely orange color, fresh from NTUC. Lol.
Marinated it in a combination of honey, soy sauce, ginger, brown sugar, garlic and onion.
Recipe Source
Brought the salmon camping, here’s the tent for it. =P
Ta daah! A little overcooked but very yummy, not dry at all and sauce was awesome. But. Mummy is still not used to the smell so she ate a little only. I got to finish everything else!
I actually preferred the skin to be crispy but didn’t want to pan fry it and stink up the whole kitchen so I used the oven instead.
Maybe next week then fry salmon before I wipe the kitchen cabinets~
Also cooked sweet potato fries which were a failure. *sigh* Too dry and too hard. That’ll be the last time I attempt this, next time, I will just steam it. xD
My to-do list was so long on Saturday. Luckily I am a good multi tasker. AHAHAHA!
Changed and washed bedsheets.
Put bleach in the toilet bowls for it to work its magic.
While the bedsheet was washing, I prepared the food for lunch.
Popped the food to cook in the oven then ironed Mr Toh’s shirts while periodically checking on the food.
Ate lunch then hanged the bedsheets.
Vacuumed and mopped the bedrooms + living room while Mummy was preparing the food for dinner.
Washed the toilet bowls and scrubbed the toilet floors.
Took a break.
After Mummy finished cooking, swept and mopped the kitchen floor.
Whewwww~!! Was trying so hard to finish doing everything so that I won’t need to do much on Sunday, can rest!
Yummy dinner on Saturday. The braised pork was better than the previous time, more tender!
Fried baby kailan with sliced pork and mushrooms.
Onion egg~ Mr Toh said this would be even better if we had added tomatoes.
I would love nothing more than to sit in front of the computer all day, play games and watch my TV shows but I don’t.
Why?
Because I have responsibilities now. It’s my home and I want it to be clean and cozy, a home that we will want to return to.
It’s not easy maintaining a home on top of our jobs so I need help. I need all the help I can and I am ever so grateful to Mummy who’s been ever so helpful.
She’s also been the one who taught me the values of being a good wife as she used to juggle housework and her work. As well as the importance of standing by your man.
Yesterday I also learned that my grandpa (dad’s dad) used to own a durian farm together with my grand uncle. O.o No wonder I love durians! Hahahah~
Anyway, it was a wonderful weekend. Feeling super accomplished and happy from the wonderful food~
Mothers’ Day is coming!
Posted on: May 9, 2013
- In: Family | Foodie-logue | Hair | Mothers' Day | Shopping
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Mothers’ Day is coming~ May is the month of broke for me, what with Mothers’ Day + Mummy’s birthday and Mr Toh’s birthday. T_T But at least we can combine her birthday and Mothers’ Day. That means 1 less present! Muahaha. =X
Starting with a lovely picture of my cute mom. We were at the waterway opposite our place after visiting the food expo with our relatives earlier that day (28/04).
Brought Mummy to try DTF the other day on 04/05. She remarked the xiao long baos were so so only. But the fried rice and pork rib soup were still good!
Almond pudding with black sesame paste. Didn’t try this but the sesame paste was quite nice though Mr Toh hated it.
Mango Pudding. Not bad.
Been busy during weekends doing housework and accompanying Mummy. =D
Some random things I bought over the weekend!
Purple handphone casing~
Super love the lighter shade of purple of the case inside!
$15 shoes from Bata! Comfy too!
Wanted to buy a bag for Mummy but she’s pickier than me when buying bags so end up she got a pair of shoes instead, after more than half an hour browsing Metro @ Compass Point. =X
Good deals at Metro as it was Mr Toh’s birthday month so we had 20% discount off blue tag items! Mr Toh went on a shopping spree, buy pants lah, buy belt, underwear, socks lah. Good deal~~
Also went and rebonded our hair on Sun at the salon near our home. Goodness, I becoming more auntie liao!! Damage was $340 for me and Mummy.
The salon was Hairplus @ Punggol Damai. Hmmmmm. Service not very good. The guy attending to me was quite rough, especially during washing & combing of my hair. I also felt he didn’t do a good job flat ironing my hair. He did it in big sections so he was done very fast. Tsk. Results so so only. =(
Initially Mummy wanted to go to Kian Seng Seafood but for Mothers’ Day, they are only accepting tables for their set menu. Their dishes weren’t very exciting so we decided not to patronise them.
So, I looked around on the web and booked a table at Kam Jia Zhuang Seafood.
Pretty good reviews I saw online so decided to give this a try. Hope they won’t disappoint!
Cleaning tips!
Posted on: May 2, 2013
Wanted to blog this in case I forget~ Taken off Punggol Breeze’s FB~
Ideas for our home
Posted on: April 22, 2013
- In: Chef-capade | OFTD | Our Home
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Cooked minced meat on Thursday again for Mr Toh. xD
Got a good improvement award. Ahahahaha!
My OFTD on Friday, it was soooo cold when I woke up! So it’s time to bust out my neglected knit wear!
Went to Ikea on Saturday and got a copy of their catalogue. Was flipping through it yesterday and they have some great ideas!
Thinking of doing something like this for the TV area. Currently we do not have anything there except for a TV console we got from his aunt.
Can arrange these cupboards around the TV.
Maybe can add some shelves too to do something like this~ Simple and nice.
I also dig this cupboard with doors, thinking of doing something like this for our study room.
For the bathrooms, I thought the idea for this sink was pretty cool.
There’s a space for you to put stuff like hand soap in the space between the sink and the wall.
And this is quite a cool idea for hanging my belts~
And now for my actual home. It is still very much a work in progress and we are still waiting for some pieces of furniture to arrive~
On the right side of the entrance is the shoe cupboard and the kitchen entrance.
The living room. Just a very simple layout.
We will be doing a partition to partially block the living area from the door. Can use that as a display cabinet too as well as put a cushion bench so we can sit there while wearing our shoes.
Mr Toh also have not done a proper table for his Buddha statues.
Sofa! Top fabric cushions and bottoms is leather (I think).
Our small extendable dining table~ Bought the place mats from Ikea.
The hallway leading to the toilet and bedrooms.
Our master bedroom~ Very very simple with a bed and wardrobe only.
Only waiting for our side tables~
That’s a small part of our soft toy collection on the bay window! *Hi Chopper, Tweety and Piglet!!*
Super love our bedroom too. Nothing to distract me from sleeping and I super like our high bed. xD
Some small ideas of Mr Toh that I thought were brilliant.
I saw this cute hook for putting our dishwashing sponges and Mr Toh thought it’d be better to put it in the sink instead of beside the tap. This way, the soapy water won’t drip all over the counter top too.
Awesome dustbin we bought from Ikea!
Mr Toh saw it and installed it in the cupboard under the sink. Looks very neat and saves space too since we don’t have any space for a dustbin due to all the cupboards installed. =X
When pulled out.
& pushed in.
Potpurri we bought from Ikea too. In the beautiful bowl that my Secret Santa gave me 2 Christmases ago. This is Mummy’s great idea~ Originally wanted to put keys but we didn’t want to scratch the bowl. This idea makes our living room smell great too!
Pressie from my bestie! Have yet to use it though.
So, I singlehandedly cooked dinner yesterday!
~Baked fish~
Not sure that this is a suitable fish for baking but we didn’t want to fry it and make the whole kitchen oily so baking was the next best option. xD
Preheat oven to 220 degree celsius.
Cleaned the fish and slit the belly.
Rubbed sesame oil, salt and pepper all over the fish and its belly too. Then I stuffed strips of ginger in the belly.
Placed aluminum foil on the baking pan and put the fish on it.
Then loosely place another sheet of aluminum foil over it.
If you want crispy skin then remove the aluminum foil during the last 5 minutes. Can also turn up the temp for the last few minutes.
Baked it for about 15 mins I think. Just estimate lah until fish is cooked. Sprinkle light soya sauce over the fish after you take it out. I thought the skin wasn’t cripsy enough though.
~Stir fry cabbage with whitebait~
All portions are based on estimates. I am Queen of Estimation. Haha. Learnt that from Mummy. =X
Roughly chop the garlic. (about 1 clove.)
Wash the whitebait, pat dry and set aside. (Depends how much you like)
Wash and slice the cabbage. (I used one whole head of chinese cabbage)
Heat oil in pan or wok.
Stir fry the garlic and whitebait until whitebait is crispy.
Add the cabbage and stir fry for about 1 minute or until they start to soften.
Add 2 tablespoons of oyster or abalone sauce, 1/2 tablespoon of light soya sauce and a dash of salt & pepper. (Amount of sauces can be adjusted according to your liking.)
Cover and simmer for around 1-2 minutes or until the cabbage is soft.
Add mixture of cornstarch with a little water, estimate about 2 tablespoons.
And done! My veggies were a tad overcooked though. =X But ok for a 1st time attempt I guess….though I prefer it to be cooked by my mom. Hahaha~ Needed a bit more whitebait too.
Wanted to cook soup but we didn’t have any more pork ribs so I thought of frying the pork slices with garlic. Went on Google and got a recipe for pork with onions. No problemo, I just changed onions to garlic. Hehehe. Forgot to say I am Queen of Improvisation (or Queen of Anyhow) also. LOL.
[Source]
400 g boneless pork loin (I used thinly sliced pork, the kind people use for steamboats. xD)
1 onion (large) (I used garlic instead, lots of it, about 2 big cloves?)
3/4 tablespoon light soya sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons dark soya sauce
3/4 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Directions:
1. Slice onions. Set aside. (In my case, roughly chop garlic and set aside.)
2. Slice pork against the grain into thin, matchbox-sized pieces. (Mine came pre sliced, so I just had to slice it into shorter pieces)
3. Place in large bowl. Marinate with sauces, sugar and sesame oil.
4. Mix well. Leave for 15-60 minutes to marinate.
5. Heat frying pan / wok with 2 tablespoons of oil.
6. Stir-fry onions (in my case, garlic, stir fry till brown) on low fire, till soft and fragrant.
7. Add pork. Stir 2 tablespoons of water in your marinade bowl and pour into pan (so there’s more gravy). (I added 1 tablespoon of water only.)
8. Cook over medium heat.
9. Serve with rice.
The end result. Looks OK right??
Mr Toh gave me the stamp of approval for this dish. Heh. Tasted surprisingly good!
I realised I really like cooking. Heh. There’s still a lot of room for improvement though. But I am happy cooking for my loved ones though I’ll need more practice before I can invite any guests over. =P
