Sat, 28th June 2008

Children's dinner tonight - grilled salmon steaks, roasted Russet potatoes partially skinned, salad with smoked salmon & a hard boiled egg with Caesar Dressing.

Here's a before and after. The salmon steaks were marinated with salt/black pepper, light soy, parsley, olive oil, lime juice/skins & shallots and garlic. Place them under a hot grill for about 6 minutes, turn off heat and leave in oven for about 2 minutes to finish cooking. Don't worry if the salmon look too pink/raw in the middle when you remove them from the oven; the remaining heat in the dish and within itself will finish cooking the fish beautifully.

Like this. See how tender it is inside. Not a minute less, not a minute more. My kids shared 3 pieces of salmon between the two of them.
Mark's portion.

We had assorted mixed lettuce, smoked salmon, tinned sockeye salmon, corn, garbanzo beans, broad beans, home made croutons (olive oil/garlic) and hard boiled eggs.

And on to a completely different note, here is a watch I'll be wearing for a while - Dad's oyster perpetual datejust showing a lot of wear and tear; it's going into the watch hospital in Tong Building, Singapore soon for a new crystal, new hands, complete servicing and maybe a new bracelet (I've just had a temporary leather bracelet put in so I can wear it) - the current stainless steel bracelet with fold over link is too loose and cannot be shortened anymore. Dad wore it everyday of his life for almost 50 years.

I think this has to be the coolest most vintage watch we'll ever own with great sentimental value.

p.s Bed soon - good book awaits, kids watching a crazy Cantonese comedy from the 80s, and I have a garage sale to go to tomorrow morning - Can I handle any more excitement? * sigh of contentment *.. :-)

LMZ

Brunei's only zoo?

Sadly, it was in an awful delapidated state and badly in need of funds for new cages, shelters and better living conditions for the animals.

Hazel was thrilled though by the animals she saw but was saddened by their environment and I was shocked to see that ostriches were so huge - I know they were big, but not this big BIG. Strangely enough, I was more afraid of the smaller birds than this enormous beaked and feathered creature.

We left as soon as Hazel saw all the exhibits as it was a particularly hot afternoon and air circulation between the cages was very poor.

Time is running out...

Only 11 days to go....

Help!

Billy the Dog

I had been admiring this cute little dog in an old magazine,

and when I told Mark to do something 'useful and positive' today, here is what was waiting for me when I came home from work today.

hehe! It's too sweet..

Chinese Chicken Salad

Recipe and step by step soon.

Here it is the method:

To a pot of water add Chinese cooking wine, five spice powder, sesame oil, crushed ginger & garlic, salt & crushed white pepper corns. Lower chicken into water and bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Turn heat off and let chicken sit in broth till it is cold. (No peeking). Remove from cold broth; dust with little more five spice power & salt and rub with sesame oil. Put into refrigerator overnight. Before serving, slice into thin slices. Top with room temperature reduced broth; fried minced garlic with its oil and garnish with cilantro.

My portion of free range corn fed chicken rice with lots of ginger sauce and pandan brown rice.

Wm cooked the free range chicken just perfectly; it was tender and just cooked, and when cooled, had a thin layer of gelatine under the skin. The chicken although small had a 'real' chicken taste (which supermarket battery chickens just do not possess) and it was lean with a thin non-fatty skin. The ginger sauce is a fantastic accompaniment!

And here is the pandan flavoured brown rice; hugely expensive from the hills of Bario but very nice.

And Dom's winning again.

Luxury Mamee Tom Yam Noodles

Boil some water, add jumbo prawns, noodles & chillies. Add soft boiled egg and cilantro and serve. Make sure you drink a lot of green tea after to remove thirst from msg. Yumms..

Bagszzz & misc weekend fun - Fri, 20th June 2008

Someone's brand new bag sizzling hot from Milan - eeps - my camera cannot capture the most important feature - the stainless steel sign screaming the big CCCCCCC.

Well, excuse me now while I faint momentarily.

At the French Graffiti Artistes' workshop at UBD earlier today - like his eyebrows and smiley sparkles??? I did them! A rare opportunity - if you missed the workshops, don't forget to visit the Gadong Mall at 2 pm tomorrow (Sat, 21st June) to meet the artistes and to view their work and if you're lucky, you might get your clothes/shoes spray painted by them.

FOR PABLO.

Another vanity pose taken last night - super fun emerald highwaisted green dress with grosgrain/net roses and crystal sandals.

For Sil. (Taken last week).

Go watch it!

Aren't they gorgeous?

Not too long ago.

My babies.

Mon, 16th June 2008

Feeding 2 hungry children after their swimming training.

Potato Au Gratin - layes of sliced potatoes/onions/salt & pepper with cream/milk & cheese.

Panfried Ribeye Steaks.


Served with Beans.

Sunday, 15th June 2008

Another simple home-cooked meal.

Sizzling tofu (it really was sizzling when I brought it to the table). 2 easy steps - first make the meat & mushroom gravy by frying some minced meat with garlic/shallots in a little oil, add finely chopped Chinese mushrooms, fry till fragrant. Add white pepper/oysters sauce/a little dark soy/water and simmer till meat and mushrooms are soft. Thicken with cornstarch and set aside. Fry tofu till lightly browned. Heat up a pan till almost smoking hot, add tofu and a little oil, then 3 beaten eggs. When bottom of egg is cooked, add meat/mushroom gravy. Serve immediately.

Salted Garlic Chicken.

fried kangkong, watercress soup and rice.

World Blood Donor Day

Today, 14th June 2008, marks World Blood Donor Day and we all trooped down to the Yayasan to do our bit. My 10th, PT's 5th and Wm's first. Hilarious scenes.

Here's Hazel providing support and her best bedside manner to Wm, who despite these funny pics was quite cool and collected.

Ok, all's calm and well.

Still shaking like a leaf although it was my 10th.

Each donor was given a goodie bag consisting of a pink water bottle, a set of cutlery, a bottle of water, a packet of date biscuits and fruit juice in a bag. Here's mine with my donor card.

Weekend

Have a fabulous weekend, everyone.

And I'll see you tonight.

Doing the Karen Cheng

Oh, what the heck - everyone is doing it so I might as well do one/two too!

I would love to see Nonnie, Nudgie, Siti, Reeds and Pablo do their versions. :-)

Go on, guys, just for a laugh and to brighten our day!