Tues, 30th Oct 2007

I assembled the entire tray - salmon tartare on pumpernickel, mayo, garnished with a caper, which I had to open into a little flower, stick on with mayo, and a tiny spring of dill.

Details:

1. Open the pack of pumpernickel - cut and trim them into exact sizes, not one bigger or smaller.

2. Put some mayonnaise into a small plastic bag and snip a hole into one corner.

3. Squeeze a generous blob onto each square. Chef Thomas says the bread is dry and needs moisture this way. It also helps to 'glue' the salmon tartare on the bread.

4. Take out the circles of salmon and cut each circle into exact sizes of 6.

5. Place them on the bread.

6. Now pipe a thin zig zag pattern of mayannoise on the salmon tartare.

7. Lightly pinch each caper into a little flower - they have 4 petals each and open up. Then tuck a tiny spring of dill on the side. Done! Next.

Mon, 29th Oct 2007

10 minutes to spare before I am out of the door. (Couldn't finish this post anyway this morning so here it is finally)..

Day one - only one of the many things I did.

I helped to assemble, wrap and decorate this. Layers of salmon fillet, a fish/prawn mousse, saffron rice, shredded egg, nori and repeat for 3 layers.

Cover with puff pastry and decorate and bake.

Can you believe I cut these neat rows using that huge knife?

And made this lattice pattern and cut a pretend fish tail?

Final product (taken 30th Oct 2007).

I gotta run - off to another 12 hour day and I can't wait. (And I did 12.5 hours today).....

Sun, 28th Oct 2007

In preparation for tomorrow;

Before & After

2.20 pm & 8.30 pm today

Shoes - which pair shall I wear?

My apron, headscarf, notepad, mechanical pencil & refills, 2 hand drying cloths.

Camera & phone in pants' pockets.

Wish me luck..

p.s I'm staying till late (I think) so I'll have make-up, toothbrush/paste, wet wipes, perfume, baby cologne, face mister, hand cream, comb, mints & a change of clothes in my basket.

p.p.s. It's 9.30 pm so I'm packing myself off to bed - have to be up early tomorrow to cook kids' lunch/dinner and make a few calls before I set off...... (hearts a pounding, butterflies in stomach a fluttering).

Sun, 28th Oct 2007

Sunday Splash @ Empire Hotel

Play.

Eat.

Sat, 27th Oct 2007

We were out most of the afternoon, so after sitting around having a late afternoon beer/s, we had a craving for steak so P promptly drove to SS to buy four huge ribeyes.

In the meantime, I prepared potatoes and vegetables.

Dinner served in half an hour at approx $24 for the 3 of us - kids had eaten earlier. The yellow blobs are pure English mustard powder mixed with water to form a paste - it is HOT.

This is Wm's well done portion (although I cannot bear to cook meat till well done so they look medium well rather than well).

Mine's medium done, could have been rarer but it's ok.

Vegs with garlic and salt and boiled/fried potatoes with rosemary and garlic.

Fri, 26th Oct 2007

Here is a takeaway Kuching laksa which I had for lunch yesterday. Ooh, it was delicious! Their sambal belachan stinks and was perfect with the spiced coconut gravy. The lasksa comes with shredded chicken, bean sprouts, sliced egg omelette, prawns, belachan, lime and some coriander leaves.

If you thinking, it seems they are very generous with the prawns, stop; there were only 3, so I added 'a few more' from my freezer. I love Kuching laksa.

7 Random Facts about me

Supreme Randomness

1. I do not know my tables from 6 to 9 and 12. (Can someone teach me)? Don't laugh - I'm serious.

2. I am very claustrophobic (like Nora) - so much so that I literally screamed for help & pressed the panic button continuously in the middle of my recent MRI and had to be helped out and calmed down.
Extract from July's post.
"I was feeling very sorry for myself running back/forth docs/tests/results/talking to clever docs, absorbing info, making sure I did not forget my own set of questions, starring at the awful truth, and suffering a major claustroph0bic /panic attack midway one of the procedures, etc, so........"

3. At 4x, I still giggle. (Stop that already - heeheeheeheehee, stop, hehe, stop...)!

4. Like AB, I have very little sense of direction. I once almost drove onto the then Miri ferry while trying to look for Jalan MacKerron in KB, once ended up in Jerudong Park exiting from someone's house at Beribi, bypassing McFarm (er, where was I?) and once almost ended up in Tutong leaving Jerudong Park one evening - yes, I lost my bearings and went 'the other way'. I've been known to get lost in Kiarong too. Can anybody beat this?

5. I talk myself through things all the time, especially at work. (mutter....., mutter...., mutter......)

6. I hate MSG.

7. I have a wicked/evil mind and sense of humour but only my closest friends have seen this. And my voice raises several decibels when I'm talking to them and I laugh like a banshee crossed with a hyena.

We DID say random, didn't we? Anybody else wanna play this taggy game, join right in!

Fri, 26th Oct 2007

Guru, I shall get round to this asap........ I will I shall I will.....

Thurs, 25th Oct 2007

At last, at long, long, last, after months and months of complaining, this. Canon iXus 75.

Yeah! And now down to the business of learning the features. (yawns)..
Perhaps I am practicing this too far, after the recent acquisitions. (Extract from here).
And because of this passage from The Secret,"If the words "I can't afford it" have passed your lips, your power to change that is now. Change it with, "I can afford that! I can buy that!" Say it over and over. Become like a parrot. For the next thirty days, make it your intention that you are going to look at everything you like and say to yourself, "I can afford that. I can buy that". As you do this you will begin to shift yourself and you will feel better about money. You will being to convince yourself that you can afford those things, and as you do, the picture of your life will change."

Psychobabble? and the start to the short route of being declared a bankrupt (God forbid)? Or profound truth?

Soto Ayam

Went to Z's house after work yesterday (25th Oct) for a bit of catch-up and natter. We had traditional Singapore Soto Ayam for our tea - I think I've featured this many times but it's delicious, especially the potato beef pattie which I must have had 10 pieces of. Z's used to my appetite and didn't blink an eyelid.

From left to right - briefly poached beansprouts, shredded chicken, lontong (rice cubes), potato/beef pattie, chilli paste, fried shallots and spring onions/coriander mix. (I'm still not used to lontong in soup, so I had some meehoon instead).

My favourite. (So yummy and tasty and crunchy eggy edges - I want more)....

The chicken soup which was full of flavour and just so nicely spiced, and chilli paste.

And some Raya cakes to eat after, with tea, in front of the TV.

Thanks Z, for always thinking of me when you have good food.

Florence & Milan

Lucky lucky S - not only did she get to go to all those lovely cities; she also had all these yummy food too. Lucky deevil, but with her kind and thoughtful heart, she deserves all these wonderful treats and more.. (Do go again but, please let me have a chance to save up a bit for my next handbag)! (Purple italics are in S's own words).

17th October 2007

This lovely meal was taken at Angels Restaurant tucked away in a corner of the Historical District of Florence but quite near to our hotel. We ordered two servings of pasta, one Tagliatelli cooked in lobster sauce and served grilled lobster, yummy!!

The other one is also Tagliatelli seafood cooked with sliced mullet and scampi (their description of shrimps, more like baby shrimps). We washed this down with a bottle of Italian Pinot Grigio.

18th October 2007

Scrumptious Food in Milan, Pasta with seafood cooked in pot under bread crust. We dipped the crust in the sauce and ate everything!! Very popular restaurant amongst the locals in an area away from the normal tourist trail.

S, your husband is such a sport - is this the first time he has had to hold up an empty bowl and let his wife take a picture of him doing that? Well done, S's husband.

19th October 2007

Another lovely meal taken in Milan at restaurant reccommended by a friend in Milan. Had to take the subway and then walk for about 15 mins in the cold to find this restaurant but it was really really worth it. The picture of the almost raw meat is a famous specialty of this restaurant called Florentina for Two, sounds very romantic, doesn't it? But we did not order this, which was actually ordered by the occupants of the next table. I told them this pic is for a foodie blog for a friend and they gave me permission. My hubby called me a xxxxxx (deleted) ! hahahaha! Makes me wish I am still in Milan.

20th October 2007

With thanks to guest blogger, S, for her words and pictures.

Gravlax

I am very very very very disappointed at how my gravlax has turned out. It's nothing like my previous attempt.

Sliced.

My previous attempt.

Look at the glorious orange translucent colour of the salmon.

But I guess I can't complain as I used frozen this time and the salmon I used before was a fresh chilled airflown beauty, neatly filleted by the experts at Excapade.

Aaaarrggghhh! *thumps self on head in frustration*

Handbags

Really want to see the bags? Here they are, with pleasure! J's the Prada and mine's the My Dior.

Opening ceremony

Lots of willing models.

Z in my office, after lunch.

J in pink, which matches the bag,

and here's M, looking very at home with it.

And finally me.

Thank you, S, for buying them for us, and for answering all those emails and texts, which hounded you from Brunei to Singapore to London to Florence and finally Milan.

So many pics just for 2 handbags? But you don't know how excited J and I had been for 10 days while waiting for them, so I guess this justifies the length of this post.

Last one! hehe So which do you prefer?

Food post up next. Promise.