Friday, 31st August 2007

10 years has passed since Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car crash. I remember almost every second of that day. It wasn't a very good time then for me so it's a bit painful watching the live telecast of today's memorial service.

I promise you I'm not shallow but Camilla al Fayed's style takes my breath away. Here she is with Elton John and David Furnish. (But I wish she had worn a different hat).

Photos from here.

Thurs, 30th August 2007

Lunch at Phong Moon with J & M.

Seafood crispy noodles

Chicken braised in a claypot

Vegetarian claypot dish consisting of dried beancurd sticks, vegetables, mushrooms, and glass noodles.

Obligatory table shot.

Non-Halal dish ahead.

(Crispy skin pork)

Pretty soon, I'm going to turn into her.

Leftovers

My dinner - chicken and smashed potatoes.

You can see I didn't have intention to put this up - look at the wonderfully mismatched daily crockery.

Sunday, 26th Aug 2007

Roasted Rosemary Chicken Sandwiches. ( I heaped more chicken onto the bread after this pic was taken).

Neatly packed in a box with damp pieces of kitchen paper in between to prevent the bread from drying out. Put into a cool bag with lots of ice around to keep cold and fresh.

Tuesday, 28th Aug 2007

Mum's recipe of ginger sauce - lovely with steamed chicken, fried rice, chicken rice, plain noodles and Chinese style roast meats.

Recipe
Peel and grate ginger finely.
Cut spring onions.

(Traditionally Mum will add the ginger and spring onions together in a bowl, pour salt over it, and heat oil to smoking point and pour over the ginger mixture, creating a loud sizzling sound).

However, I heat some oil to almost smoking point in a wok over high heat, add ginger and spring onion and toss briefly. Add salt and mix thoroughly. Remove and store in a bowl. It's yummy and consumed in large quantities, it creates a warm feeling in your tummy.

And mothers-in-confinement, if you're tired of your thrice daily ginger chicken wine mid-way into your confinement, this is a lovely alternative. Just heap liberally over steamed chicken and eat with a bowl of double boiled chicken tonic soup - I'm sure even your mum/confinement lady will approve!

Weds, 29th Aug 2007

My daughter, Hazel, is a very lucky little girl indeed.
To have a cousin who's 12 who has outgrown her lovely clothes and who is generous enough to hand them down to her. Thank you Belle!

Here they are on a temporary shelf until I find some space in her cupboards to put them in.

And her favourite? This!

Facebook

I'm on facebook! (at last) I'm not sure how I come across here, all I talk about is food, recipes, diet failures, and kids/shopping (occasionally). So perhaps Facebook will show a different side of me?

Sat, 25th Aug 2007

I already had the ingredients so here is what my kids had for their dinner on Saturday night.
Roast beef with jacket potatoes and spinach.
Lovely camera skills.

The beef was simply marinated with salt/black pepper, olive oil, garlic and onions. I'm constantly saying this, but here it goes again, baste constantly, low heat, long roasting and you will get tender delicious meat like this, it simply melts in the mouth with no hint of toughness or fibre (so common in restaurants nowadays) with a delicious 'fresh beef' taste..

Jackets stripped.

Just help yourself to a plate of meat (don't forget the hot English mustard) and a large glass of cab sav and you're all set for the night.

Gravy is just plain old pan juices.

Sat, 25th Aug 2007

I just had to show you guys a roast chicken I made on Saturday night using a new marinade. The chicken wasn't to eat for dinner or anything like that, it was to make chicken sandwiches as we were going to Sunday Splash (again) on Sunday. (You can just about see the lemon inside).

It's a small chicken weighing about 1.3 kg only.

So here it is, the marinade is really simple, just garlic, salt & black pepper, light soy, lemon juice, onions, olive oil and rosemary (dried) and I put the lemon into the chicken cavity before roasting.

I marinated the chicken for 3 hours, and roasted it for about an hour, oven mark 6, basting constantly and removing the juices to let the skin crisp for the last 15 minutes.

I really and truly am not singing my own praises, but it was good, so flavourful and tender and juicy and tasty and falling off the bone.....

Here is a wing which Hazel had.

And a drumstick......

I let the chicken cool, and hand shredded the meat, wearing plastic disposable gloves and turned the meat into huge stacks of roasted rosemary chicken sandwiches for Sunday Splash. Of course I had to add mayonnaise, grainy mustard, dried parsley, salt & black pepper for extra taste.

Fri, 24th Aug 2007

I had some leftover prawns in my freezer and much inspired was I by my sis's Prawn Pasta, I decided to make my easy version here. I made the sauce in less time I needed to cook the pasta (13 minutes).

First, add a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil in a pan, add garlic and onions and saute gently (do not let them brown), add prawns, saute briefly. Now go mad with parsley, tarragon, salt & black pepper and add cherry tomatoes.

Squish tomatoes to release juices.

Add about half a cup of pasta water.

Drain pasta, add to sauce, toss to incorporate flavours and serve. (This is just a fancy shot for the blog).

I made a chilli & black pepper infused olive oil to eat with my pasta.

It was very very good and so easy to make. Try it!

p.s Here is my bowl of pasta which I ate in bed, reading this.

My second bowl. Took some cold meds with 2 mugs of green tea after this and slept the entire afternoon away.... bliss...

Note to self: Cook tomatoes before prawns next time. I was a little anxious that I will overcook the prawns, I could have cooked the tomatoes a little longer but that's just me being fussy again.

Fri, 24th Aug 2007

I'm having a bit of trouble with my shoutbox. For IM - who left a message, TFP's site is here.

Tues,21st & Weds 22nd Aug 2007

All these meals are cooked by my sis, J, whom Wm is visiting. J has 2 kids, she runs a huge home with an industrial kitchen, with NO HELPER and she regularly cooks for her kids' friends and their parents. I can't even cut an onion without yelling for help.

Here are some of their meals:

Roasted Lamb Shanks with Potato Au Gratin
The entire tray - slow roasted lamb shanks with herbs, onions, red wine, garlic and carrots. Yummies...

Prawn pasta with pesto

Home made pesto sauce

Roasted red peppers - there is something inside, what is it? Tomatoes?

Table shot

Roasted sweet potatoes

Healthy version of Potato Gratin with vegetable broth and little butter. Mine is usually laden with cream, cheese and butter... hehe

Healthy

More handpicked berries