Sun, 12th Oct 2008

A nice refreshing cold fruit salad with pomelo, kiwi fruit, papaya, yellow watermelon, orange segments, tin longans and lime. To bring one's internal temperature down when one is hot to one's core :-) Ever felt like that?

The pomelo was quite sour but was more bearable after marinating in the longan syrup for a while. Nice.

Sat, 11th Oct 2008

Corn soup with egg and a bit of chicken. Lots of white pepper and a few dashes of sesame oil.

Fri, 10th Oct 2008

After the delicious lunch, reluctantly, I hauled myself off to yoga this evening. I saw the light!!! Wow. I walked into the studio grumpy, sluggish and hot (despite a shower just before), and emerged fresh and energised - and it was an intermediate class too. Thank you muchly Jac. Namaste.

I made a chicken soup in the slow cooker for my kids before I left the house.

These are the ingredients - all kinds of herbs which are supposed to heal, provide energy, improve concentration and several other amazing properties. One must believe, one must believe. Mum makes this soup for us just before exams, after an illness or babies! Very tasty and full of goodness.

Mark & Hazel's portions.

We shared the rest. With loving chicken soup in your bellies, go face all those exams head-on, kids!! Mummy says NO FEAR.

Hazel ate most of the meat too. Good girl.

Fri, 10th Oct 2008

I had a long lunch at Z's today. Her mum's famous Mee Siam, rojak, deep fried chicken wings, and fried satay. I had several helpings of everything. This really made up for last week when I pretended not to be hungry in an attempt to be 'polite' and I must confess my baju was pretty tight too :-)

The real Singapore Mee Siam with prawn sambal, chives, egg, fried tofu, lime and the most tasty sweet/sourish gravy to pour over.

Crunchy, juicy wings freshly fried and piping HOT. I risked getting blisters on my fingers and in my mouth, threw all caution to the wind and ate several in quick succession.

After several meesiams and chicken wings, more freshly fried ones emerged from the kitchen......

After lunch, it was cakes, cookies and tea.

Thank you Z & mummie for lunch (and the laughs)!!

Hazel with All Black.

Saturday, 4th Oct 2008

One of our favourite home dinners is plain old steak, veg and potatoes. I used to take the time to make 2 types of sauces (pepper and mushroom) to top our steaks but lately have not been doing it; I now find that a well seasoned steak, charred slightly and cooked pink and tender inside needs no further adornment except for well, a huge dollop of hot English mustard and a glass of Merlot or Cab Sav.

Getting closer.

I was generous to the point of heavy handedness with seasoning - go on - be bold!!

I have been very pleased with the quality of the meat from SS lately.

I sauteed French & Sugar Snap Beans in the grill pan with olive oil, dash of salt and absolutely no water. The vegetables were slightly charred and released some of their juices. Garlic was added just before I removed the vegs - by now the pan was so hot that I was almost at risk of burning both everything but removed the pan in the nick of time.

Lovely way of cooking vegs - they were very sweet and crunchy.

Potatoes - parboiled and simply roasted with rosemary, parsley, garlic, salt & black pepper, and olive oil. These potatoes are glorious - tender, tasty with a fantastic flavourful skin. I roasted a kilo of potatoes and we ate everything in one sitting. (I was hoping to have leftovers for the following day).

The steaks - 2 thick ribeyes and a sirloin for Wm and PT. Oops slightly over this side as I was distracted momentarily.

I cut my steak into two slices - it was very easy to cook this perfectly to medium rare which to me is the perfect doneness. Approx 2.5 minutes each side on an almost smoking hot grill pan with a quarter turn halfway to create the grill marks. I cooked Mark & Hazel's steaks first and by the time our steaks were done, they were halfway through their dinner.

Let it rest for a few minutes to allow the juices to settle (I can't wait longer than 3 minutes, under the pretense of checking the doneness, usually a piece gets snipped off with a pair of scissors and popped into my mouth as it's coming off the fire)!!

Aah - lovely meat - a vegetarian I don't think I ever will be.

Fri, 3rd October 2008

And blogging continues now that the picture bank is well and truly topped up to 10gb till Sept '09..

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Raya with lots of delicious food and catching up with friends and relatives. Except for driving up/down Salambigar for Mark's tuition rounds, I've been flopping around at home well and truly appreciating the last few days off before the new school term starts next week (school rounds again)... A sudden spurt of energy saw me having a massive (brutal) all day clear out with 15 large bags of stuff to be donated tomorrow; and 5 bags of clothes for our maid's daughter. 2 bags have gone to C and he's having the bike too. I love clearing out but my pleas for a co-ordinated effort to tackle the store room fell on deaf ears - time for drastic measures tomorrow.

Recent food - leftover beef shank curry rice with fresh coriander.

Roast chicken with rice and curry gravy. Here's Mark tucking in.

My version of Singaporean Fried MeeHoon with Fish Cake, Egg, Carrot, Onions & Greens. Lots of curry powder and surprisingly Hazel ate hers without comment/complain. The real version usually has shredded red & green peppers, bean sprouts and char siu.

The following day, I found some leftovers in the fridge and fried it up again with an egg till the meehoon was crispy at the bottom, huge dollop of HK chilli oil and I ate it from the frying pan. No plate = less washing up. It tasted better than it did yesterday. :-)

Oh this is quite delicious - it's quite common in Chinese restaurants - 3 egg vegetables with stock. I made the stock with panfried dried scallops, garlic and dried whitebait. Added water and simmered the stock till it was very tasty indeed. Spinach, then chopped century & salted eggs and lastly, a beaten egg and take if off the fire immediately. Teensy pinch of salt too. It's easy and I will make this again. The soup/stock is sweet not from sugar, I mean, but from the ingredients.

Pause for a handbag moment. I was there to catch the unveiling and had a chance to paw.

Twice Cooked Potato Salad (just a silly pretentious name I thought of) - Parboiled potatoes, roasted with salt/black pepper/tiny dash of olive oil and hint of rosemary. The potatoes were good enough to eat on their own.

Mayonnaise was added, with corn kernels, tuna, raw finely diced onions, dijon and grainy mustard, dried parsley and more salt/black pepper. That's quite a lot of salad but my kids and I polished off the lot in a day. They can easily burn off the cals but I can't and I must lose 5 kgs in about 3.5 weeks. Oh no, not another diet deadline. It's really important - I must - but not tomorrow as I'm having Mee Siam.

And lastly, instant noodle (Maggi asam laksa flavour) with crab stick, extra chillies, egg and seaweed. So bad good it hurts. Full of processed badness.

Tip of the iceberg. More bags joined this lot later. (photo removed - messy!)

Been sneezing and tearing since the afternoon from dust & heat but I think my anti-histamines are kicking in now so I think the bed calls. Must be up early tomorrow; dare I start on my wardrobes?

Selamat Hari Raya

Wishing all who are celebrating Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri with your family, loved ones and friends.