Ultimate Foodies Bloggers Challenge

Congratulations to Senor Pablo and his team for organising & hosting a magnificent event at his residence yesterday and thank you for giving us an arena to showcase our home recipes to everyone there. I look forward to buying the book and already have had a request from a reader who lives in Canada to reserve a copy (and sign!) it for her. *thank you*

(Photo by: Pablo)

And a HUGE thank you to everyone who voted for me!! My two winning dishes..

2nd prize - Roasted Garlic and Anchovy Dip (Photo by: Marul)

9th prize - Chinese Chicken Salad

These two recipes will be published in the Ultimate Foodie Bloggers Cookbook so don't forget to buy the book as soon as it is released - 100% of the proceeds goes to charity.

Congratulations to all the other winners as well and it was a pleasure to meet all of you yesterday... :-)

Chung / Ko Chung / Ba Chang

Mr Ab & A's dear mumsie & Jeed's MIL, gave me & my family some chungs for the forthcoming festival. I took one with me to the office for breakfast this morning. 2 minutes in the microwave with a tiny sprinkling of water over the leaves.....


Have a look! Aren't they lovely? Flavourful glutinous rice, a meaty piece of chicken, dried mushroom, dried prawn, salted egg yolk and chestnut. The portion was absolutely correct too for a not too heavy breakfast. I was so happy as it kept me going until dinner (yes, I am on yet another diet)..

Thank you, Auntie, for always thinking of me. Your Ba Chang is deelicious!!

More from here and here..



It's absolutely halal as well. Isn't this a lovely way to share a traditional Chinese festival?

p.s. A.... my sis and her hub enjoyed the chung too and asked me to thank your mumsie on their behalf..

Healthy Dinner

Here is someone's healthy dinner tonight - mixed grains & rice, with tomatoes and lean chicken. With cucumbers.. and chorizo. Eat with chilli oil.

Roast Chicken, Mashed Potatoes & Sauteed Mushrooms

Last night's dinner for the kids.

Garlic sauteed mushrooms with a little dollop of mayonnaise.

Roast chicken with caramelised onions.


Creamy Mashed Potatoes with Mushrooms, Onions AND cheese. (This is Mark's creation).

Vegs Stir-fry

2 types of vegetables I made recently.

Last week.

Cauliflower, oyster mushrooms, carrot, dried shiitake mushrooms and almonds.

Tonight - mangetout, carrots, red peppers, brocolli, wood's ear, baby corn, almonds and tinned button mushrooms. Stirfry with garlic, light soy, white pepper and oyster sauce.

Basic Batter

For Katia who left a message on the tag board, here is the recipe for a basic batter - you can use this for fish, bananas, yam, pumpkin, squid or prawns, or other kinds of vegetables such as onion, egg plant, etc.

- 2 cups of self raising flour
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- salt & white pepper
- water
- 3 small ice-cubes
- 1 teaspoon oil

Just mix together until lump free and a thick batter is formed.

If you are rushed for time, omit ice-cubes and oil.

Deep Fried Mushrooms

Deep Fried Mushrooms.

It makes me happy when I get asked to cook a particular something for my kids - Mark asked for this yesterday and luckily, SS had some firm, fresh, and uncompletely unbruised white mushrooms on their shelves. I removed the stalks and fried them separately. They were delicious too! The dip was a simple one of grated garlic, mayonnaise and spring onions. Would have been better if I added tomato & chilli sauce but I did not have them in the fridge.

I used 1.5 tubs of mushrooms (each costing approx $3.20) - it's so cheap and easy to make this at home - restaurants charge up to $8 for a plate of 6 pcs with a tiny salad garnish on the side. The oil can be re-used once so there is not too much wastage.