Mon, 23rd Feb 2009

Dinner for 4.

Two types of vegetables cooked on the grill pan, with olive oil, salt & minced garlic.

Then 4 pieces of thick cut sirloin cooked approx 4 minutes each side. With a quarter turn after 2 minutes to create the grill marks.

Allowing the meat to tent (cover with foil) and rest for 5 minutes before serving. I've never tented steak before but my favourite TV BBQ chef never misses this step.

Wow, he is right - juicy tender meat.

Some golden roasted potatoes.

Some attempt at food styling.

Steak and mustard, anybody? I think I have almost achieved perfect medium rare.

With meat so good, all you need is a little sprinkle of sea salt, some freshly ground black pepper and the all essential English mustard.

Weekend

Thursday, 19th Feb

Oysters and assorted cake at the Sheraton.


Saturday, 22nd Feb

One of my favourite vegs.

With garlic, shallots, dried shrimps, belachan from Hong Kong and chillies.

And a simple no frills fried meehoon, with slice chicken, dried mushrooms, vegetables and eggs.

Proving that good food needn't be complicated to make nor expensive :-)

Quiet weekend...

Sunday - 15th Feb 2009 - Cooked vegs with coconut milk with tofupok. Made extra dried shrimp with shrimp paste and chillies to dust over the top. The coconut milk gravy was quite thin and not very flavourful, but the topping helped. I made it this way so everyone could adjust the degree of 'shrimpiness/spiciness' in their gravy.

The cucumbers were quite sweet and crunchy.

Saturday, 14th Feb 2009 - we had porridge tonight - yeah, I know porridge on Valentine's night when the rest of the world is indulging in truffles and chocolate and champagne - I could cry :-)

So here are some salted eggs and century eggs.

I deep fried a little meehoon (as topping for the porridge) - made this simple sauce of light soy, sesame oil & white pepper.

Some chopped coriander and sliced ginger. Toasted white sesame seeds.

Cakoi.

Porridge with condiments - the porridge is boiled with carrots, dried scallops, minced meat and moss.

And delicious with toasted sesame seeds. Our helper is really good at making Cantonese porridge - the smooth creamy type. If she went to work for another Cantonese family after us, I think they will approve of her porridge too.

Kids' activities - Hazel joined a swiming competition and here are the boys learning traditional kite making.

And Mark and his friends on the PS3 - this is my bedroom by the way.

My week

Monday 9th Feb- Dinner at the ABs - thanks to Reeda and Zedah and their adorable kids.

Tuesday 10th Feb - Lunch with Alina at Twelv - we had the buffet brunch consisting of breakfast cereals, mushroom omelette, lemon dory fish, grilled chicken (delicious), noodles, potatoes, sausages, vegetables, fruits. The owner gave us some spring rolls to try. Thank you!

Wednesday 11th Feb - Lunch with Z - we went to Seri Kandi at Kiulap - lovely buffet spread consisting of salads, soup, several main courses, rice & vegetables (I loved the okras and had several helpings), dessert. Great value at $8.50 per person and good food too. It was such a nice surprise to bump into him and her here.

Thursday 12th Feb - Dinner at N & S's - N has a lovely pad by the river, we went out to the balcony after dinner, it is so quiet and peaceful here. I sat on a huge tall wrought iron chair and stared into the darkness and my mind was temporarily quietened. (At times like these, I wish I could still have a cigarette - no, I didn't).. We had Pate, Greek salad & Seafood Pasta.

Friday 13th Feb - Lunch with J at Excapade, we shared a prawn tempura, chicken teppanyaki & California maki. I frightened the order taker by saying very confidently "and a chicken tempura please"!! I was quite bewildered when she said "we don't have chicken tempura"!!! J & I talked till 2.30 pm - they were about to lock up when we left.

In the evening, had a visit from S, H & UR

What a nice week it was - saw so many of my favourite people. Talked, laughed, and ATE a lot.... :-)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Fri, 13th Feb 2009

Last night was so fun - hehe - we had a late CNY visit from some friends, and UR had just come back from his holiday in Perth and he came bearing two boxes of Apple Strudel. We had some VRBs, and at the end of the evening, after dessert (sago gula melaka), I made a refreshing garden party drink of Pimms, cucmber cubes, orange juice, lime juice, frozen strawberries and a tin of soda and for good measure, a bit of redbull. (I didn't have any ginger ale so just made things up as I went along)..

We had cashew nuts with garlic, roasted garlic/anchovy olive oil dip, cheese & crackers, pate, meehoon putih, Japanese seaweed and peanuts.