Steamed Tofu with Seaweed

This recipe is inspired from yesterday's Japan's Hour show on Channel News Asia. I saw the two ladies having the tofu soup, steamed tofu, fried tofu, etc, even the dessert is from tofu. I forget where was the tofu shop on the show, but the tofu soup and steamed tofu made me craving on tofu. So here is the recipe that looks like the one in the show. The outcome is similar to chawanmushi and the custard also taste like chawan mushi, so with some substitute here and there, you'll have your own chawanmushi.

Ingredients:
1 packet of silken tofu
5 gr wakame seaweed (soaked for 5 min with water, strained)
300 ml unsweetened soya milk
2 eggs
Seasonings: sugar, salt, mirin (mild taste, so don't go overboard)

How to:
Cut tofu to desirable size, put in the big bowl (fit in the steamer) together w/ the wakame seaweed.
Beat egg and soyamilk, together with the seasonings until quite fluffy and pour over tofu and seaweed.
Steamed for about 30 minutes until soft custards form.

** For Chawanmushi feel, substitute wakame seaweed chicken, shitake or matsutake mushrooms, fishcake. If you want to loose the tofu, change it with 2 more eggs.

** If your steamer is big enough, you can portion it to individual bowls, it'll look nicer.

Bakwan Mie

I”ve been craving for some fried stuff since yesterday. So, I made this wonderful easy treat. Enjoy J

Ingredients:
2 packs of instant noodle (or you also can use egg noodles) ±170 gr, boiled and cut to small pieces w/ scissor
100 gr frozen veggies, thawed and dried
50 gr white mushroom/shitake mushroom, cut small ** optional
Batter:
100 gr plain flour
50 gr corn flour
1 egg
3 tbsp beer
150 ml water
Seasoning: sugar, black pepper, salt
Sauce: Sweet soya sauce + sweet Thai chili sauce, mix

How to:
Whisk the batter and seasoning together in a large bowl until smooth and make sure the mixture is not too thin (should be able to make a ribbon with the tip of the whisk)
Add in the noodle, veggie and mushroom, fold until all incorporated
Heat up oil to medium low heat and scoop 1 big spoonful of the mixture to it. Fry until golden brown.
Serve with the sauce on the side

Hoshi ni Natta Shonen

Another great movie to watch. This movie is based on the real story of Sakamoto Tetsumu, Japan's first mahout (elephant tamer in Thai). Tetsumu grew up in a family with lots of animals since his mom supply animals for movies and CMs. Though he loves animals yet his relationship with his family was not that good. Then he met with an elephant called Randy. With Randy, Tetsumu developed a strong friendship and realized his talent in connecting with elephant. Thus Tetsumu embarked his journey to Thailand as the first Japanese trained to become a mahout. A very touching life story. I come to know this movie because I read the manga first and I literally cried but definitely this will touch your heart.

Anime List (Other than shoujo)

This thread posted solely to list non-shoujo anime (well, coz mostly are shounen/mecha) that I think worth watching. I’m not really a fan of shounen anime coz 1. some of them are just TOO long (100 plus episodes are consider short) 2. Some of them are just too bloody 3. Why do they have to make the girls’ body unbalanced (eg. The boobs are as big as watermelons)? or the girl is so cute to the point of ecchi. Some of the anime on the list are OLD, but I think it’s worth mentioning J ** The list is in random order.

Gundam 00 – Still ongoing. I just finished watching episode 24 and on the verge of crying. All stories of Gundam series involve heavy politics and the consequences of war. Gundam 00 really potrays how greedy humans can be and what the world become when those greedy humans are given power. Definitely must watch. Plus, kudos to the seiyus, they did a very fantastic job. And gotta love those Gundam suits.
Deathnote. I keep repeating reviewing this anime on my postings. Can’t get enough of this. What will you do if you’re given a notebook that can kill people by just writing their names on it?
Claymore. A very bloody anime. Claymores exist solely to kill youkais. However, when they themselves reach their limit, they will evolve into youkai too. A quite deep and dark anime.
D-Gray man – Still ongoing. One example of a never ending anime. Currently on episode 75, another new battle just started between the exorcists (Allen Walker and the Order) and Millenium Earl. None of the Noah Clans dies yet so will expect to have more and more episodes coming.
Bleach – Still ongoing. The manga is still running so chances of this never ending anime to end are reduced to 0. Getting more and more draggy nowadays, but nevertheless one of the popular anime out there.
Shugo Chara – Still ongoing. A cute anime. Everybody has an egg in their heart. This egg if nurtured can hatch and become your chara. Love it.
Bamboo Blade – Still ongoing. Just for your entertainment. The story is about a Kendo club and its member. Each member has different reasons on joining the club. One of them is to get free food.
Moyashimon – Still ongoing. Another funny anime but not sure on how the plot will go, which makes it interesting. Plus, those bacterias are cute.
Code Geass – the R series coming soon. Similar Gundam but more to physiological issue than the politics and the war itself. Lelouch’s character is similar to Raito’s Death Note. So you put this guy with the power of Geass…. A must watch.
Clannad – Still ongoing. My bro’s fave. The couple is very cute. It’s just that I haven’t seen the very funny scenes so far. But if you like The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, then definitely this is a must watch.
Inuyasha – Still ongoing (?). This one is a truly never ending anime. Run on about 200+ episodes already until I lost track on where should I continue to watch. But Inuyasha can be considered one of the best story-wise of the never ending anime. It’s not boring although sometimes it’s draggy.
Rosario Vampire – Still ongoing. I read the manga and it’s still on going. The story of a human boy stranded in a high school for youkai and stuck with a very powerful vampire girl (when unleashed) that loves his blood
Kodomo No Jikan. The anime is about a new teacher teaching primary 3 students who know more ecchi stuff then him. Actually the way those little girls talk and act will not be considered ecchi if they don’t put LOTS of cencors on it, which make us think it’s ecchi. But this is what makes this anime is so funny. If you’re a Lolita fan then this is a must watch.

Moving Notice

When you see some old or very old postings dated today, don't be confused. I'm just moving my postings from my other blogs. The postings that I moved mostly are recipes and reviews that may be used as reference.

秒速5センチメートル ~ 5 Centimeters per Second

Another MUST watch anime and another reason why I love anime :). A new release in 2007, so it hasn't ended yet, but this anime worth the wait per subbed episodes.
The story begins with Takaki and Akari, elementry school students who were parted upon their graduation day. The interesting part is the story is told from Akari's point of view, then Takaki's point of view. Their relationship began to develop as they exchanged letters and in the end Takaki went to Akari's place to visit her, but then to depart again as he's going to transfer school to the place even further away.
A bit similar to Kita E ~ Diamond Dust Drops, both of them are in form of short stories. The only difference is Kita E is told with no narration. However, 5 cm is very good in the plot and story telling. Although lots of narration was used, but we still can feel the characters' emotion. I'm so touched on the scene when Akari called Takaki to tell that they can't go to the same school later on and both of them cried silently over the phone.
Another point that makes 5 cm one of my MUST watch list is the graphics. The scenaries, buildings, backgrounds are so detailed and actually look real. The sunlight and lighting particularly, they make the scenes look outstanding. From this anime, we can see how much anime can evolve in the past few years (2004-2007). Eg. Kita E was released in 2005 with wonderful graphics and 5 cm already shows the difference.
Moreover, more and more interesting anime coming in this 2007. Look forward to it :).

Anime List -- 2007

My latest favorite anime list in no particular ranking. There’s tons of great anime out there and here are some that left deep impression on me and get me addicted on starring at my small laptop screen. You’ll find lots of similarity in my list because my kinds of animes are those with lots of bishounen -- gorgeous guys (off course, I want to watch beautiful things that don’t exist in reality), romance, less fighting scenes (although I like some bloody scenes like in X, Ayashi No Ceres, but again we come back to point 1, those animes have lots of … ehem … bishounen, kyaaaa). Exception will goes to Death Note and Jigoku Shoujo. I’m currently watching Shinigami no Ballad (still not sure whether to include this to my list J).

Ouran High School Host Club – The most hilarious anime thus far, you’ll never feel tired of watching this over and over again. The story starts when a special scholarship student in a school for unbelievably rich kids, who never taste instant coffee all their life, broke a vase worth 5M Yen and was forced to work as a host in the host club to pay his debt. But they only realize that he is a she until episode 3. This is how the earlier episodes begin and all the hilarious stunts to follow.

Saionkoku Monogatari – Same formula as Fushigii Yuugi, with lots of bishounen but the main character, Shurei, is a lot smarter than Miyaka, which makes a huge difference. Not that I don’t like Fushigii Yuugi (I can’t resist anime with 7 bishounen running around haha), but I can’t stand of the prolonged Miyaka and Tamahome saga. Going back to Saionkoku, the story is about a young girl called Shurei who lived in the ancient country named Saionkoku. The first season shows less romance because the story goes with how Shurei overcome the challenges to become a good government official. Hopefully the season II includes more romance hehe..

Nodame Cantabile – Noda Megumi, in short, Nodame, is a music school student with enormous talent yet lack of ambition to pursue professional music, paired with Chiaki Shinnichi, a handsome and talented in piano and violin yet has an ambition to become a conductor. This unique pair makes the anime so fun to watch and makes you want to play piano too. Another version to watch is the live action drama. Nodame in the drama is so cute and Chiaki is so kakkoii. Also, watch them in Smap Bistro variety.

Nana – One winter night on the way to Tokyo with shinkansen, Komatsu Nana sat next to Osaki Nana and they get along right away. They met again by chance and ended up share an apartment #707(what a coincidence this is) together. With absolutely different characters, both Nana and Hachiko (nick for Komatsu Nana) face their challenges in both carrier and love life, like any other girls in their 20s. An absolutely addicted drama with good soundtracks (I like all the songs in there) and season 2 is coming up, hopefully soon. Don’t forget to watch the live movie version Nana and Nana2.

5 Centimeters per Second – Anime based on short stories, similar to Kita E. I like this anime for their story lines, graphic and details.

Glass Mask – Based on the 1970s popular manga (I read the manga when I was still in junior high to show you how old it is), the one that I watch is the remake version. This is a story about the life of Maya Kitajima, a girl with a frightening talent in drama, her ups and downs in life to pursue the role of Crimson Goddess. Worth to wait and watch.

Ayashi no Ceres – From the author of Fushigii Yuugi, Ayashi No Ceres, again with bishounen, shows more violent and bloody scenes compare to Fushigii Yuugi. Not as long as Fushigii Yuugi, and the story line moving quite fast for 17 series of manga.

Emma – Setting in 19th century of England, the anime is about the love story of Emma, a maid coming from lower class of the society, and Mr Jones, an eligible bachelor from the upper class. With class barrier in front of them the story keeps rolling. What is fantastic about this drama is the background details. The author really takes the consideration on what England looks like in 19th century.

All anime by CLAMP – XXXholic, Tsubasa Chronicles, RG Veda, Sakura Cardcaptor, X, Angelic Layer, Wish, Clover, Magic Knight – Rayearth, CLAMP Gakkuen. I like CLAMP so my opinion will be biased because anything by CLAMP is a MUST watch J. The common thing in CLAMP latest animes from Rayearth to XXXholic, is the white, soft and fluffy Mokona and the interrelated characters, eg. you'll find Sakura in Cardcaptor as Sakura in Tsubasa Chronicle but with totally different personality and story lines. Always shows optimized creativity and imagination with good story lines, detailed graphics, different presentations, CLAMP’s creation is surely worth to wait and watch.

Nadeshiko Sichihenge – This anime follows Ouran High School’s formula of success with 4 bishounen living together in a mansion. The landlord (only appears now and then) has a niece and wants them to take care of her and transfer her into a lady for a free stay. Little did they know that it’s going to be harder than they thought as the girl is a horror freak since she got her heart break from confessing her love.

Death Note – For those who watch the movie Death Note and Death Note 2, this anime is just to support the movie because it provides more details J. One fine day, Yagami Light found a black book (actually the book was purposely dropped by a bored Shinigami, Ryuk) and find out that the book holds a power to kill people just by writing their name on it. Gifted with a bright but apparently rather twisted mind, Yagami used the book to wipe out all the bad guys (according to him), thus makes him Kira (his code name). On the other side, there’s a guy with the code ‘L’ try to catch him. Thus this cats and dogs tale starts.

La Corda D’Oro – Another anime with lots of bishounen J. The theme is similar to Nodame Cantabile, but the difference is the main character, Hino, knows nothing about classical music. She just happens to be able to see the music fairy who’s flying around the school and is given a magic violin to participate on the school’s music competition. I like the soudtracks and the classical songs played in the anime.

Romeo x Juliet – Released in 2007, based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but with the twist of anime formula inserted. Juliet’s family, the Capulet, was slaughtered by the Montaque family led by Romeo’s father to take over the power. Under Montaque’s leadership, the country suffered over poverty and only hoped to see its country’s glory back in place. 14 years later, as destiny follows, Romeo and Juliet met up and fall in love by chance. The background graphics are absolutely fantastic making it a treat to watch.

Ichigo 100% – Very cute junior high continue to high school romance J and I like the title.
Jigoku Shoujo – In English, Hell Girl. This anime comes in short stories. Each episodes is not related to each other. The main point is there’s a website when you can take revenge on those people who wronged you, but with a cost, your own very soul. The hell girl will give you a voodoo doll with a red string, and if you take the red string off, your opponent will go straight to Hell, and your name will be carved in Hell waiting for your death. Main lesson learnt, as bad as what you’ve gone through in live, there’s nothing worse when you know Hell awaits your death.

Spiderman III

I watched Spiderman III this afternoon. People have been flocking all movie theaters across Singapore to watch this. My friend bought the ticket online 3 days in advance and she waited until midnight to book the ticket and another hour to actually confirm her booking. This clearly shows how much the public has been waiting for this movie. It is truly a great movie and even better from the first 2 sequels.
The story begins with happy moments for Peter Parker and Mary Jean. Then things started to go wrong when this black sticky alien made a nest in Spiderman’s suit. The bad news was this alien was not only changing the suit’s color to black, but also changed Peter’s personality. Peter became a violent and vengeful person. He only realized his changes after he hurt so many people around him, including MJ and Harry. With his 2 new enemies on his tail, how Peter Parker as Spiderman and Peter overcame all this mess?
With a great story lines, plots and wonderful special effects, this makes the best movie thus far in 2007 J (according to me). On the first movie, we’re touched with Uncle Ben’s quote: ‘With a great power, comes a great responsibility’. With the second movie, we’re captivated with Peter’s dilemma whether to go on as Spiderman or to choose living normally. And now, in the third one, our dear Peter Parker has to overcome his own demon, himself, and love and forgiveness can really amend broken ties between friends. On the third movie, we see Spiderman as normal human beings like us, can be seduced by power, and also make mistakes.

TCC ~ The Coffee Connoisseur

Finally, something good from TCC (or finally I found it). Don't get me wrong, I very seldom go to TCC because I don't really like their stuff. Their cakes not fantastic and sometimes too dry (or too long in the fridge). Their drinks are too sweet, especially the hot coffee beverages (that include milk, cream and sugar). But, my perception has change and I see a glimpse of hope now that it's not that bad. One dessert that makes me change my mind is their Vanilla Bread Pudding. They use some kind of Baguette (I think). It's not too sweet and the texture is soft and not dry. The vanilla is not overpowering to the pallate makes me able to eat more of it. Presentation wise, it's quite different from usual bread pudding I had before. Usually, the bread pudding come in ramekin, just like creme brulee or creme caramel. But this time it's sliced and served in plate with ice cream.
Another thing that changed my mind about TCC is the Azuki Cooler. It's coffee with azuki bean paste on the bottom of the glass and off course, milk and whip cream. The sweetness only come from the Azuki beans so it's not so overpowering (I very seldom finish my frappucino because it's too sweet).
So, yeah, now I think TCC is not that bad, but still think their price is a bit steep :p.

Ng Ah Sio Pork Ribs - Rangoon Rd

I went to eat Bakuteh at the famous Rangoon Rd stall. It's just about 10 minutes walk from Farrell Park MRT station (so you don't need to take taxi, even though you get the impression that it's in the middle of nowhere, it's not).
When I got there, it's not that crowded yet (thankfully) but when the lunch hour started to kick in, people began to flock the place endlessly and now I understand the reason why it's like that.
It's simply because it's the best bakuteh stall in Singapore (again, according to me :)). The herb was strong yet tasty, the garlic was not overpowering and you could also taste strong peppers (I think they use more than 2 types of peppers). Enough about the soup, now we move on to what we ate. We ordered liver, kidney, intestines (this one is not my fave, but for those who love it, you'll be more than happy because they have plentiful in 1 serving). They all were very nice, if you don't like pig organs, you can stick with the pork ribs, but I think it will be wasted not to taste everything :). I also had pig trotters which was also nice, gulped the whole plate myself. To reduce our guilty feelings of gubbling so much fat, we drank some Chinese tea (already forget the name) that leave sweet aftertaste. This whole scenario is one of the satisfying meals I had so far in Singapore.
Pricewise? It's not that cheap, actually, but then again, we ordered so much, so I think it's reasonable.

Chocolate Factory ~ Robertson Quay

Another great place to relax and destressed. Located at the Robertson Quay facing the river, it's certainly a wonderful place to munch those delicious chocolate cakes. We ordered a chocolate tarte and cheesecake. The cheesecake is not that creamy and heavy, you'll certainly can easily gulp down 2 pieces without an extra effort. And the chocolate tarte consists of smooth chocolate layer with hazelnut layer on the bottom. The creaminess of the chocolate is not so overwhelming, so for those who do not list chocolate as their must have, this tarte might be just right for your palate. With the addition a relaxing view within your eye sight, it's certainly a nice place to have a chat with your friends or just simply read a book. Price wise, it's comparable with standard cafe in Singapore. So why not try some chocolate for your high tea? :)

君の好きなとこ -- 平井堅

This song will melt your heart, especially when you know the lyrics. I put up the youtube link on my profile...

思いが募るほどに直接顔見ては言えない君の好きなところなんて数えきれないほどあるのにいざ目の前にすると何も言えなくなってしまう会えない日に積み重ねた願いも　迷いも　ため息もほら　今　この気持ち君に言ってみたら困った顔するかな?その逆ならいいな照れた笑顔　すねた横顔ぐしゃぐしゃ泣き顔長いまつげ　耳のかたち切りすぎた前髪君の好きなとこなら星の数ほどあるのに一つも言葉に出来なくて
恋をすればするほど駆け引きはうまくはなるけどこの胸のムズがゆさにいつもギリギリ手が届かない困った顔　見たくていじわる言ってみるほんとは　全てが可愛くてしょうがないくせに片方だけできるエクボ朝のかすれた声唇の色　髪の匂い抱きしめた温度君の好きなとこなら誰よりも知ってるのになぜ伝えられないのだろう?
お腹が空くと機嫌が悪くなって黙りこむ酔うとすぐ寝るくせに帰りたくないとすねる君の嫌なところもそりゃ少しはあるけれど会えばいつも許してしまうホッとした顔笑ったときに八の字になる眉皮肉やなのに意外と人情ものに弱い君の好きなとこなら世界中の誰よりも知ってる僕が嬉しくて
ほら今君が笑うからなぜだろう言葉に出来なくて

Transformers

Transformers is originally from an animation in 1980s (when I was still in primary school) about alien robots that can transform themselves to cars, jets, trucks, and even radio. My brother and I used to admire all the toys because they were so cool (last time they’re still originally made in Japan).
The movie’s story line is like the whole animation series compress into a 2.5 hours movie. Decepticons led by Megatron try to destroy the earth, then the Autobots, the good guys led by Optimus Prime, prevent them and the clash begins. However, the movie seems to add more characters to the robots. Bumblebee, the smallest Autobot, can get angry when it’s called ‘a piece of crap.’ Optimus Prime seems to have more charm then the one in the animation (or may be because the animation was so old and everything looked so flat :d). Megatron even looks meaner and sadistic in here, especially during the fights. However, the Decepticons are portrayed to look more like aliens with all those gadget extensions than the Autobots.
The best thing from this movie and the point that makes it really worth to pay 10$ to watch it is the special effects. All those transforming and the fights look so real and with the help of a very good sound system, you can feel the floor moving every time there’s a fight. Then, you’ll realize why they only make this movie around this era, not in may be 1990s. Where else can you see giant robots can fight in Matrix moves, and see Optimus make a Kung Fu pose every time it’s transformed. The movie has its balance with some humors here and there, such as, when the Autobots try to hide themselves in Sam’s house. They’re really trying their best to fit in their big chunk of steels into the patio or hang on to the tree so that Sam’s parents can’t see them, which makes it really hilarious. Another cool thing is the details. You’ll see both Autobots and Decepticons will have scratches, such as their paints have scratches and so on after their fights. Not like they’re untouchable or will look shiny forever. Thumbs up for that.
Overall, this is one of the must watch movie in 2007, and you HAVE to watch it in theater, not buying the DVD (unless you have a private movie theater). For those Transformers fans out there, rest assure that there’re lots of fighting too, the drama part is only in moderate level, so you don’t feel cheated watching this movie.

Nana 2 - Movie

Yes! Nana 2 – Movie is finally out in youtube J I’ve been waiting for months to watch it and it’s finally out and nicely subbed (the sub includes all the *emoticons*).
Nana 2 is the sequel of Nana, which is based on manga with the same title (off course it also has the anime version). Nana 2 is the compilation of the later half of Nana anime version. It starts from when Nana starts seeing Takumi and the drama goes on. I don’t want to spoil the story for those who never watch it. For those who already watch the anime, well, you know the rest of the story anyway.
Not to forget the good part. Nana 2 also includes nice songs from both Trapnest and Blast (as always). Will try to get the downloads for those too J.
The verdict, it’s a must watch for Nana fans, and those who doesn’t want to waste time watching the whole anime, you can watch Nana and Nana 2 to get the whole picture, but off course, anime version is more detail. The only downside is that the story is a bit jumping here and there, but off course how are you going to squeeze the supposedly 20 episodes of anime into 2 hours movie? Still, I repeat, it’s a must watch J

Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix ~ Movie

I just watched the latest installment of Harry Porter series based from its fifth book ‘Harry Porter and The Order of The Phoenix’ today after a good 2 years of waiting J. The theater was packed (obviously I wasn’t the only one so eager to watch that we booked the tickets 2 weeks in advance).
Surprisingly, this is the shortest movie among the previous Porter movies and yet it’s based from the thickest book among the series (how ironic). I give thumbs up for the producer to compress the more than 800 pages book into 2.5 hours movie. Harry and friends grow so fast compare from the last movie, from cuties to hotties J. You can catch Harry’s toned physique wrapped in a tight T-shirt in the beginning part when suddenly 2 dementors attack him and his cousin (I just can’t help but gawking at Harry haha).
The movie takes only the major plot from the book. However, it shows a good amount of Harry’s emotional stages of being accused a liar for telling people that the ‘Who must not be named’ is back, tormented horribly by Prof Umbridge (I hate this lady in the book and even more in the movie), and the final blow, having to watch his god father die. For those who never read the book, yes, it’s a spoiler, I apologize for that, but who hasn’t read the book? You can also see Harry’s acting skill has improved a lot and thus can pull this series of emotional rollercoaster off (keep up the good work, Daniel!).
For non-Harry Porter fans, this movie is still worth to watch because it’s loaded with full blow of special effect! You already see some of them from the trailer and sure are impressed by it and you’ll be immersed for 2.5 hours in the world of Hogwarts. I particularly like the special effect during the mass fighting scenes toward the end of the movie and when Dumbledore fought Voldermort to protect Harry. So what are you waiting for? Join me in Harry Porter mania haha… and you’ll see me queuing for the book on 21st July at Kinokuniya Orchard.

Ah Chiang's Porridge ~ Outram Park

Today is not a very sunny day as it’s quite cloudy when we reached Ah Chiang’s porridge food stall at Outram Park at around 9 am. Imagine, we purposely drag our butt to get up at 7.30 am while we could have another 2 or 3 hours of beauty sleep just to slurp the porridge. Mindful that time is crucially important when you want to eat porridge in this stall. The earlier, the better. As we half-heartedly pray that the place is not that crowded, alas, it’s the otherwise. Luckily we didn’t have to wait that long.
Our usual menu in this stall is 2 plates of raw fish (per person, please), century egg, yew tiao and off course, the famous porridge, plain, and, off course, not to be left out, the fresh red chili to company the raw fish. The ultimate reason for 2 plates of the raw fish is because it takes quite long to have the porridge on your table, approx. 25-30 min. So, to buy some time, we shove the fish down to our throat without the porridge, and off course, the fish has to taste wonderful. It doesn’t have the fishy smell, thanks to the very fragrant sesame oil. And, with the red chili, soy sauce and ginger, it delightfully lingers in our mouth before swallowed down. When finally bowls of the porridge come, we for sure will be on the way to the 2nd plate of that raw fish. The porridge itself is tasty with a hint of sweetness (probably from Chinese wine and broth?) for plain porridge, I like particularly the smooth (the rice has dissolved to very fine flakes) but not so gooey-like-glue texture of it. It blends nicely with the yew tiao, you don’t really need to soak the yew tiao for so long to get it fully soggy. And, as always (as if I’ve been there for 1000 times already haha… this is my second time going there, and there’ll be much more next time), we feel very much full and skip our lunch in the end. What a perfect day to start a Sunday, with one of the Chinese breakfast’s staples, porridge J.

Easy Pasta II

Another easy pasta recipe, only take 15 min max to prepare and cook :).

Ingredients:
1 pack of young asparagus - discard the 4cm bottom, cut the rest 4cm length
20 pc cherry tomato - halved
1 pack enoki mushroom
1 pack king oyster mushroom – sliced
1 garlic - chopped
Cooked pasta for 3 person (after boil the pasta, mix pasta with splash of olive oil)
Seasoning: lemon pepper, basil flakes, salt, sugar, pasta sauce (I like Prego’s mushroom tomato sauce), white wine

How to make:
Stir fry garlic until fragrant and golden color
Next, toss the asparagus until half cooked then put both king oyster and enoki mushroom and cook until soft
Put tomatoes in and all the seasonings to taste (suggest put just about 3 tbsp of Prego sauce) and toss all ingredients. Splash a bit of white wine and up the heat for about 1 min and toss in the pasta for about 1 min.
Serve hot

Tips:
For better taste, always toss your pasta before serving on your panfry in med-high heat for 1-2 min.
For storage, always store your pasta separate from the toppings (pasta tends to get soggy if store together in 1 container in fridge)

The Bourne Ultimatum

This third installment of the advanture of Jason Bourne immediately goes to my fave movie’s list. With the non-stop (literally non-stop) mind blowing actions packed in about 2 hour duration, this movie makes my heart pumped every single second of it. I don’t think I got a chance to take a deep breadth and relax for awhile as the non-stop action keep continue from 1 stunt to another.
Jason Bourne, again, travelled across Europe from Moscow, Madrid, Turin, London, Tangier (Morocco), and finally back to New York to find out his real identity. He finally got a clue about a project called Blackbriar, and on his way to obtain more information about it, a reporter (Ross), his source (Daniels), and other agents (Dash, the one who got assigned to kill Daniels, Bourne and Nicky, the girl that hunts Bourne in ‘Bourne Supremacy’) got killed. One part that I find so cool is when Bourne instructed Ross via cell phone to avoid all the agents and CCTV across London’s busiest subway (I already watch in suspense, and continue to be in suspense towards the end). The twist and turn of the plot inside the CIA itself during Bourne hunting frenzy makes the movie more enjoyable to watch.
Lots of the stunts are definitely not to be imitated at home (you don’t want to wreck yours and your neighbor’s cars, do you?) and the best thing is that Bourne is even harder die than Bruce Willis in Die Hard hahaha…. Normal people won’t live after running around, get punched, kicked, shot, bombed ~ the proof why Bourne is a die hard, still running, jump across the roof like nobody business, and the best, after got shot, still jump from the 10th floor and amazingly still alive and kicking.
Definitely one of the best movies in 2007 and a must watch for those who haven’t watch, but apparently I think I’m the last one to watch this ahhaha…..

Kyoto Aji Tei - Plaza Singapura

I hate Ajisen Ramen for 3 reasons. One, the ramen taste instant. Two, the soup is damn saltish. Three, it’s overprice and there’re LOTS of better ramen joints in Singapore. So, I have doubts when I see that this Kyoto Aji Tei is within Ajisen group. However, my love for Jap food won me over so I tried this place, for the sake of trying. I ordered the Omu rice set, and the desert, forget the name but it’s basically black honey jelly w/ mochi etc. The omu rice is OK (I have better ones before), but in Singapore is considerably good already. The omelet is not dry, just nice wrapping the fried rice with shitake mushroom, showered with mayo and okonomiyaki sauce. Too bad it’s not demi-glace sauce, though. So, plus one for Ajisen. But I’m quite disappointed with the dessert because the picture looks nicer than the real thing.
So, in the end Ajisen group is not black-listed yet in my book. I’ll still go back for the omu rice J.

Marutama Ramen - Central

Another good ramen stall in Singapore. To be able to ear ramen there you have to queue, yes people, queue, and it's a very long queue during peak hours. Also, be reminded to be there not too late because the shop will close once the soup runs out. I really patiently joined the queue out of curiousity on how good this ramen is. Basically their menu is ... ramen, ... ramen ... and another ramen with either seaweed, tamago (the soft boiled eggs), char siew, corn etc as toppings. Sadly, the ramen doesnt come with topping except for standard 1 topping (indicated in the menu). The rest are additional charges. The soup, well, people don't queue there for nothing. Yes, it's good, not salty, quite rich with chicken flavor and it's not Royco taste. I was quite happy with my food except for the noodle, which a bit dissapoint me, and they run out of the rice with pickles (a bit sad, because I like that dish too). But hey, the soup covered all those dissapointments :). Overall it's good and another choice to have when you want to eat good ramen in Singapore.

Stardust

If you like Cinderella type of fairy tale, you’ll definitely dig this movie. Complete with the special effect and good casting, this movie is definitely one of the must watch in 2007. The real story begins when Tristan crosses the ‘wall’ to get the ‘star’ for his beloved Victoria. Little does he know (or at least until the end of the movie) that his adventure will turn his whole life up side down and we’ll be keep cheering for him throughout the whole movie. In his journey he does find the ‘star’ but in form of a girl named Yvaine who’s glowing (literally glowing) whenever she feels happy. And Yvaine is also wearing the necklace which is sought by dreary princes (beyond ugly) of the Stormhold kingdom (they need to find this necklace to mark their position as the appointed king of Stormhold). Well, we already know the ending of the story the moment that Tristan jumps over the wall, but we just don’t know how the journey goes and the story is wrapped with the just nice balance of humour, adventure, thriller and romance. To make the journey more exciting, the story includes the witches who hunt the star to prolong their life and the pirate captain who hides his hobby of cross dressing in order to keep his reputation in front of his crew. We laugh, jump with excitement, thrill and sad at the same time as the movie goes on and by the time it ends, we wake up from the dream and back to reality.

Ma Maison ~ Central

Ma Maison is located at 1 small corner somewhere on the 3rd floor of the mall, if you don’t get lost first. I’ve been wanted to try this place for quite some time because of the food display is so mouth-watering. I like hamburger steak (ﾊﾝﾊﾞｰｸﾞ ｽﾃｷ) but it must be the good one, and this place provides that. The part that makes me curious about this place is that they serve most of their menu with the brown sauce (デミグラスソース). Most restaurants in Singapore (that I’ve visited so far) do not do that and it defeats the purpose of eating omu rice (ｵﾑ ﾗｲｽ) or the hamburger steak itself. But, silly me, I’ve been eyeing the hamburger steak all the time but ended up ordering the omu rice (my philosophy is that if the omu rice is good, then everything is good, but nevertheless I still get to eat the hamburger steak because I made my dad ordered that J). The lunch set serves with soup of the day (thin version of clam chowder, not bad, despite it’s thinness, it’s still tasty and pleasant to you palate), salad (simple water lettuce with some sweet corn and the radish dressing), the main meal and finishing up with tea/coffee (hot or cold, it’s your choice). The omu rice is quite good though I had better ones (but off course not in Singapore), but it’s still considered one of the best in here thus far (confirmed it’s better than Sun and Moon’s). I’m a bit disappointed because the omelette is not wrapping the rice, it’s just put on top of it although it’s very fluffy and creamy. The ketchup fried rice is quite good (but still think that St. George is the best, sigh). But despite the minor disappointment, I still enjoy my meal. The hamburger steak is good, suits to be called their specialty. The ground beef patty is well mixed and so tender that it melts in your mouth (not exaggerating here, or may be a bit…, but it really is with the sunny side up egg on top of it :d). The demiglace sauce is rather thin compare to my expectation but who am I to complain because to make that sauce is damn difficult and takes very long time (unless it’s canned J, but I will never know that). With the price tag of 16.5++ SGD to 20++ SGD per set meal for lunch, I find it to be rather satisfying (hey, we go home with full stomach and not complaining), so it’s worth a second visit and the third, fourth, ……. J

Awon Korean Restaurant - Excelcior Hotel

For those Korean food lovers, you might not want to miss Awon Korean Restaurant. Located in Excelsior Hotel, this place might not one of the most frequent places to visit. But let me tell you, that 5 minute extra walk that you take from City Hall MRT is worth it. We went day for the lunch set and chose the pork belly and chicken set. As usual, Korean food comes with some side dishes. Out of the 6 side dishes served, I particularly want to highlight the Kim chi, pickled radish, and tofu. The Kim chi, it’s to die for. The seasoning is just nice, not so spicy and you can taste it’s sweetness. If I didn’t think of my back pain, I’ll keep ordering that Kim chi again, again and again. The pickled radish, is mild, no hint of spiciness although it’s red color and I like the tanginess (reminds me of asinan Bogor, anyone remember?). And not forget about the tofu, served warm and it’s best served warm. With the hint of sugar, it actually enhances its Soya bean flavor.
Now, let’s dissect the main dishes. The pork belly was nice, served with the lettuce, garlic and fermented bean sauce. Put them together and it would sway you happily pork belly land. It also goes well with the Kim chi, which give an additional fresh feeling in you mouth. I like the way they cook the chicken. It looks spicy but actually not that spicy. So fellow chili-phobia, don’t be scared to try this dish, it’s quite friendly to your taste buds, and can challenge you to take 1 more level up on your chili tolerance. It tastes somehow similar to phad thai, but off course it’s totally different from Thai food. I especially like the vermicelli in it. It’s so tasty and it just slur through your mouth and throat as a treat to your body. The chicken is so tasty because they marinated it with bulgogi seasoning.
Now, why do I rave so much about this place? Let me tell you the reasons and I think I already giveaway some of them. First, the side dishes are free flow. You can order that kim chi and tofu multiple times. Second, the food is good and with that abundant food on your table, your stomach goes home very happy and pampered. Three, the catch prize, it only cost you max 12 SGD for set lunch!!! And I think it’s very extremely worth it for Korean food. However, be mindful that if you go to this place for dinner, you won’t see this kind of pricing, but off course you’ll have more variety to choose for.

Wonton Soup - Non Seafood

Another kind of wonton for those who are allergic to seafood.

Wonton filling ingredients:
300 gr minced chicken
300 gr minced pork
2 bunches of chives, thinly sliced
5-6 big dried ear mushrooms, soak in hot water until soft and diced to small pieces
3 tbsp of corn flour
Wonton seasonings: sugar, salt and pepper to taste
2 packs of wonton skins (about 40 slices)
Soup seasonings: sugar, salt, pepper and apple vinegar to taste (I like to put LOTS of apple vinegar, but for those who got gastric, please restrain on pouring the vinegar to your content)

How to make:
In a big bowl, mix all the wonton filling ingredients and seasonings together until well blended
Take 1 tbsp of the filling and place it in the middle of wonton skin. Fold the wonton skin and seal the skin with water. Avoid excess air inside the wonton by pressing the skin surrounding the filling.
Repeat step 1 & 2. This recipe yields approx. 40 wontons.
Boil wonton with water (chicken stock is also recommended), add soup seasonings and enjoy while it’s hot.

Storage: My ideal of 1 bowl of wonton soup contains 5 pieces of wonton. Afterall, it's 5 jumbo wonton. So, I will pack the wontons by batch of 5 with plastic wrap and place it in freezer. The wontons will get sticky and glued to each other if you stack all of them together in 1 container. If you still want to stack it in 1 container, layer each stack of wonton with plastic wrap.

Naeng Myeon

I’m a fan of Naeng Myeon, Korean version of cold noodle. Basically it’s a buckwheat noodle with cold beef broth with lots of ice and hardboiled egg. Some may also serve it with thinly sliced cucumber and pear. This is my version of Naeng Myeon. Trust me, it tastes similar to those in the restaurant and this is based from one of my mom’s home recipe. It’s always served hot in my house plus it use fried shallots to make it more Indonesian, it only took my laziness to discover the alternative serving is the same thing as Naeng Myeon. Why is that? Because I’m just too lazy to heat the soup in the microwave hahahaa….

Ingredients
300 gr of beef (preferably thinly slice beef or any cut will do, but just remember that you’re gonna eat it COLD, so choose wisely)
2 small sized white radish (I was told that the big ones are OLD and tough, so must choose the small ones)
1 bunch Chinese celery, chopped ** optional
hard boiled eggs per your taste (usually 1 bowl use 1 egg)
1 packet of somen (Korean buckwheat noodle is not that easy to find here, so I substitute it with somen because somen has its chewy consistency)
** 1 packet of somen usually for 4 person estimated
Seasoning: Soya sauce, sugar, apple vinegar
Mustard ** optional

How to:
in the boiling water, put in beef and radish and let it simmer until both are tender
season it with the seasoning. I put lots of soya sauce because I want to have lots of broth. But remember Naeng Myeon is NOT salty, soya sauce is more to make it fragrance and coloring. Personally I like lots of vinegar because it makes the broth taste refreshing.
remember to serve it cold
If you don’t like Chinese celery, you should use pear or cucumber, but remember must use the hardboiled egg, it makes the broth creamier when eaten together J If you have mustard in your pantry, you can serve it on the side per the traditional version. Mustard will make the dish more refreshing in taste, but it’s not a must.
**
Chinese parsley is good for lowering your high blood pressure.
Beef is good for those who have low blood counts
Vinegar is good for your skin and diet (especially apple vinegar)
Radish is cooling
Buckwheat noodle has lots of fiber so if you could get a hand of those bunch, you should definitely use it instead of somen

Virgin Snow

If you’re a sucker for romantic drama movies, then this movie is definitely highly on my must watch movie list. It’s a Japan-Korea collaboration, similar to ‘Friends’. The story is about Min who just transferred from Seoul to Kyoto due to his dad’s job. Not knowing any Jap, Min then meets Nanae and had love at the first sight moment (they always have to make it in slow motion). And thus their story begins. What makes me recommend this movie is definitely not the plot. Lots of movies are made based on similar plot especially Korean dramas. What makes it different is for a couple of reasons. 1. It’s so cute and adorable. Yes, the story is simple and to the point of cliché, yet the chemistry of Min and Nanae is so cute. Especially how Min reacts on Nanae is totally adorable. 2. Korean actors know how to express this kind of love in their acting (those \in Korean drama especially) and definitely know how to cry and make it looks so cool (only in movies, don’t make this as your assumption in the real world). ** This may be biased, but I like Lee Jun Ki so I think he’s doing quite good in this movie (his acting not as intense as his other movies though). 3. The setting, Kyoto, the movie shows the beautiful sceneries of Kyoto that will makes you wish you’d be there but definitely not alone haha (especially the scene when Min and Nanae were on their date in the bamboo park). 4. It’s a happy ending, so don’t loose your faith even though you watch Min sort of angry and giving up his love in the middle, but soon regretting of hurting Nanae and running desperately in the snowy weather clinging to his love. Hey, it really took faith to keep loving the person like that. The last 15 min of the movie is similar to Tada Kimi o Aishiteru, only this one is ended with happiness (oops, spoiler, but think only Feli will watch so what the heck haha)

Chicken Cordon Bleu

I take Chicken Cordon Bleu's recipe by Tyler Florence from Foodnetwork.com and make a few modifications (see all the bracket). Result *grin grin grin*. It's MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER than the ones I've tasted in restaurant (and I paid quite the price tag mind you).
So below is the recipe plus modification:

4 double chicken breasts (about 7-ounces each), skinless and boneless

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

8 thin slices deli ham (I use apple baked ham, but think honey ham is better)

16 thin slices Gruyere or Swiss cheese (I use Danish Mozerella taste very mild and tender, and off course it’s still Mozerella, just nice)

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves (DO NOT OMIT this, your chicken will taste and smell wonderful with this, but I put the thyme inside the chicken and only the left over sprinkle on top of the crust)

1/4 cup flour

1 cup panko bread crumbs (I use the regular bread crumbs, recommend: Kraft mixed bread crumbs, mix with the flour and it’ll make a good crust)

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 eggs

2 teaspoons water
(To make your chicken nicer, marinate it w/ lemon for 30 min before start with the rest.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lay the chicken between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Using the flat side of a meat mallet, gently pound the chicken to 1/4-inch thickness. Take care not to pound too hard because the meat may tear or create holes. Lay 2 slices of cheese on each breast, followed by 2 slices of ham, and 2 more of cheese; leaving a 1/2-inch margin on all sides to help seal the roll. Tuck in the sides of the breast and roll up tight like a jellyroll. Squeeze the log gently to seal. Season the flour with salt and pepper; spread out on waxed paper or in a flat dish. Mix the breadcrumbs with thyme, kosher salt, pepper, and oil. The oil will help the crust brown. Beat together the eggs and water, the mixture should be fluid. Lightly dust the chicken with flour, then dip in the egg mixture. Gently coat in the bread crumbs. Carefully transfer the roulades to a baking pan and bake for 20 minutes until browned and cooked through. (I add another 15 min, coz I scared it’s not done yet, but if your crust is thicken harden already the chicken won’t be tough and dry) Cut into pinwheels before serving.

This chicken goes well with salsa. I just do a simple salsa which made from:
4 medium tomatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
1 lemon, take the juice
seasoning: sugar, lemon pepper
Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Meatloaf

I took this meatloaf recipe from foodnetwork.com under title 'Italian Meatloaf' and I modified it to meet whatever available in my kitchen and suits my budget more :d. Result, still fantastic, it's crispy on the outside (I purposely add 10 more minute to make sure the crust hardened). Without further ado, below is the recipe:

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 red pepper, seeded, small diced (** for those who don’t like paprika (it’s a good stuff btw, u don’t know what you’re missing) substitute with 2 tomatoes, water taken out, small diced)
1 onion, diced 10 cloves chopped garlic (Use more garlic, the more the better, it’s good for your blood pressure)
250 gr ground beef 2 eggs
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (use 3 slice Kraft cheese cut small is good enough)
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar (the more the better, if you like this, and plus you can add some more upon serving)
1 packet basil leaves, chopped 1 bunch parsley leaves, chopped (*** can use either basil or parsley, if you want to use both, reduce the portion to avoid green meatloaf)
1 tsp salt (* optional, I omit salt)
1 tbsp black pepper
1 cup marinara sauce (substitute with 2 tomatoes, diced, mix with tomato ketchup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175C). Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat and add the peppers, onions and garlic. Saute until just soft, remove to a plate and cool.
When the peppers and onions are cool, combine all of the remaining ingredients together except for the tomato. Pack the meat mixture into an oiled loaf pan, if you do not have a loaf pan, form the meat mixture into a loaf shape on an oiled oven tray or baking dish. Top with the tomato.
Bake for approximately 50 to 60 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees F in the middle of the meatloaf. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Slice and serve.

White Fungus Dessert

Feel heaty lately? Here is a simple recipe to cool you down. All you need is a steamer or a slow cooker for this recipe.
Ingredients:
1 or 2 dried white fungus, soaked with hot water until soft, discard the yellowish part and shred the fungus to bite size
1 handful of dried longan (if you’re feel heaty, you can omit this)
1 handful of dried red dates
1 pack of ginkgo nuts
1 handful of winter melon sugar
Honey rock sugar to taste

How to make:
Steam all the ingredients together with water for approx. 30 minutes. Do make a quick check every 15 minutes to see if the fungus is soft already.
Can be serve hot or cold (I prefer cold because it tastes so refreshing).

This recipe calls for your creativity too. You can omit or add on other ingredients to your taste. But make sure to check with the people in Chinese medicine shop whether the ingredient that you want to mix in is hot or cold in nature because certain ingredients are not to be mixed together.
PS: to make it grand, you can add bird nest J. It’s good for your skin complexion J.

Pear Compote

Hohoho... I've been craving to make this pear compote eversince my friend gave me half bottle of red wine (free red wine --> I don't drink red wine and I'm not an alcoholic --> DESSERRTTTT on the go hahahaa)... Anyway, since I never do before, I did a research for the recipe (wow, they use lots of ingredients for a slow-cooked pear haha)... So due to the limited availability of ingredients in my kitchen, here we go:
Ingredients:
1 cup of red wine (I don't care what kind of red wine, as long as you like it)
3 green pears, peeled and cut big cubes
1/3 cup of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla escent (it will be wonderful if you use the real vanilla bean)
5 slice of peeled lemon/orange/grapefruit (in my case, I use grapefruit because I just happen bought them)
Sauce:
2 cup of milk (DO NOT USE NON-FAT MILK)
1/3 cup of sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp of corn flour, diluted with water
1 tsp vanilla escent
3 tsp of ruhm (or to your taste)
How to make:
Sauce:
1. Put all the ingredients into a sauce pan except the corn flour, vanilla and ruhm then bring to boil, keep stirring to prevent the egg yolk to become a scramble egg
2. When it boils, start to pour the corn flour bit by bit until it is as thick as cream soup, then bring to boil one more time
3. Remove from heat and keep steering to prevent skin forming, put in vanilla and ruhm. Once it's a bit cool down, set aside and put inside fridge
Pear compote:
1. In a saucepan, put in all ingredients and slow cook around 1/2 hour or until the pear soft and absorb the wine colour, and the alcohol already gone, left with the sticky wine residue (don't throw this away!!!)
To serve:
On a plate, layer the sauce then place about 6-7 cubes of pear in the middle. With a teaspoon, splater the plate with the wine residue. Then top the pear with vanilla ice cream (I'm thinking of Hagen Daaz ice cream) ...

Bird Nest Dessert

Haha... Don't get me wrong. It's only the name. It does not mean that you have to use those expensive bird nests (actually you can, but I can't guarantee you the taste hahahaa... let's leave the bird nest for now). Lots of varieties can be derived from this simple recipe. You can put in your creative mind and voila, the new kind of dessert created
Ingredients:
1 pack of agar2, boiled in 400 ml water and 1/3 cup of sugar and chilled, shred and set aside
1 canned longan
1 canned lyche
How to make:
1. Mix all the ingredients in the big dessert bowl then add water if needed
PS: for variery:
1. Change longan and lyche with cocktail fruits
2. Change the syrup with rose, vanilla, or cocopandan syrup
3. Can mix #2 with condensed milk, then add grass jelly (green or black)
4. Can change syrup with fruit juice (eg. mix fruit juice and mango juice)

Tom Yum Fried Rice

. I always like vegetarian food (but never intend to become a vegetarian haha... don't want to miss whatever God creates to be consumed by human haha...). This time I tasted my friend's tom yum fried rice (coz I finished my lunch already haha... eat so fast...). Yummy.... they chopped vegetarian BBQ pork and use frozzen veggie with tom yum paste. Anyway, here's my version of tom yum fried rice.
Ingredients:
2.5 cup of cooked rice
3 eggs
1 cup of frozzen veggie
2 stalks of green onion, chopped
1 onion, diced cube
1 bunch of thai parsley, roughly chopped
1 cup of shrimp meat
1 tom yum soup packet (not enough? can open another pack)
3 red and green chilli (chopped fresh)
How to make:
1. sautee onion until soft
2. scramble the egg, then put in half of the chopped green onion and thai parsley and half of the chopped chili
3. then put the rest of ingredients and work your hands on it hahahaa...

Chicken Salad

Tried this at one of my fave supermarket at the Highway 99 spread, Seattle. Been making this thing to cure the addictive effect.
Ingredients:
1/2 roasted chicken (easy way out, buy from supermarket, can choose from honey glaced to lemon herb), shred the meat
1 bunch of celery cut into small cube, need about 5 stalks
3 eggs, boiled, cut to small pieces
1 onion, cut small cubes
2 stalks of green inion, thinly sliced
mayonaise (preffered kyupi brand of kraft's miracle whip)
Seasoning: pepper, salt, sugar
How to make
1. throw all ingredients into mixing bowl and start mixing until they're well mixed
2. Served cold (can sprinkle sliced toasted almonds for garnish)
PS: original version use almond (sliced and crushed) alot, since I don't like nuts that much, i ommit this ingredient from my recipe :p

Bistik

One of the westernized Indonesian home cooking dishes



Ingredients:
1 pound of pork or beef loins (has dalam --> don't know exactly the English word), thinly sliced, pound the meat and marinate them in sweet soy sauce (I'm a faithful customer of Bango brand, feel free to use other brands :) ), pepper and garlick powder for at least 2 hours (I usually leave it the whole day inside fridge before cook)
5 carrots, sliced vertically 5 cm
1 bunch of green beans, sliced 5 cm
3-5 potatoes (depends on how big they are), sliced wedges --> Try Yukon Gold potatoes, taste delightful, but I don't think we have them here in Singapore, never see other kinds of potatoes other than Russet potatoes
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
How to make:
1. Steam the veggie until well done, set aside
2. Fry the potatoes until golden, set aside, best to serve while the potatoes still hot
3. Sear the meat, using either butter or olive oil, over a high-teat pan.
4. After you're done with the meat, in the same pan, put around 2 tbsp of olive oil and sautee the onion until soft, then pour down the marinate sauce (don't throw them away, they're delicious leftover haha). Add more sweet soy sauce, black pepper, salt, sugar, pepper to your taste. A bit of wine wouldn't hurt either. To thicken the sauce, pour down the maizena diluted with water to your taste.
5. Arrange all the veggie, potatoes and meat on the plate and pour the sauce :)

Fried Noodle with Twist

Today I tasted something interesting. One of our church member whipped up fried noodle (complete with all the ingredients eg. meatballs, mushroom etc) for us. But the interesting from the dish was that instead of using noodle, she used rice vermicille, both thin (so'un) and thick (the one used for pad thai). Wah, it tasted heavenly hehehe... quite unique and different (I'm so used to Singapore's mee goreng and fried beehoon already --> lots of oil and msg). Plus with the sliced big green chilli cooked together with the noodle, it made the dish generate different fragrant than the usual Indonesian fried noodle. But still, as an Indonesian, can't eat fried noodle without chilli sauce, so she provided the chilli for us ---> Good chilli makes good food excellent inside the mouth hahaha.... never forget to place a glass of milk beside you when you eat super hot chilli hehe...
Can try this idea next time --> Lesson learned: don't be affraid to mix and match --> lots of good things can come out from it

Bakmi Ayam

Well, if you are one of the crazed fans of 'Bakmi GM', you may try this recipe and make it your own version of 'Bakmi GM', at least my version 'looks' like it hahaha... I finally post this upon Feli's request
Ingredients:
1 chicken breast -- cut cubbed, drenched with corn starch
1 can of straw mushroom (US does not have fresh 'jamur merang', so this will do, can be substituted with white button mushroom)
4 or 5 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in water, sliced thinly after expanded
1 pack of fresh or dried noodle (pick your fave), boiled, set aside
1 pack of green onion (cut thinly)
Garlic (to your taste), chopped fine
1 pack of Bok Choi, lightly blanced
Seasonings: Salt, pepper, sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, mirin (all to your taste)
How to make:
1. In a stir-fry pan, heat up sesame oil then put in the garlic and stir fry until light brown
2. Throw in the chicken, cook until half well done, add mirin to quicken the process hehe
3. Throw in the mushrooms and start cooking until everything well done
4. Put in all seasonings (except sesame oil and mirin), all to your taste, keep stiring to blend in the seasoning, then turn off the heat and set aside
5. To serve: put noodle in a bowl, place the cooked chicken and mushrooms on the top and sprinkle with green onion
* Some people might not be able to leave without the soup when they eat this Bakmi Ayam. The soup is unbeliavably easy:
1. Boil water, add some Maggie's chicken block and a bit of salt.
Or,
2. Boil canned chicken broth diluted with a bit of water.
To serve, sprinkle green onion on the top

When you're going to a party and you have to bring a gift, you probably try to think of something unique to give. Here are some of the ideas: hihihi --> food lover will appreciate it hehe...

1. Frozen grapes (level: super duper easy) --> Basically you just buy 3 different kinds of grapes (seedless, red, green and black), then you put them inside a tuppleware container inside the freezer for 2 or 3 hours. How to wrap frozen things? The same thing like what the ice cream parlor does, put the grapes inside the gift box, layer outside the gift box with dry ice, then wrap again (should survive at least 1/2-1 hours). This one tastes sand looks like candy in the end.

2. Soaked raisin (level: unbelievably easy) --> In a glass jar (don't use plastic), soak white raisin in your favorite white wine, then put inside the fridge for up to 1 month. The raisin will become bigger and soaked, taste sweet but got alcohol sense, which is GOOD hehe... For gift, simply wrap the jar with ribbon (try cutie-shaped jar and nice ribbon for presentation)

3. Homemade infused olive oil (level: surprisingly easy) --> put fresh thyme, rosemary, black pepper, crush dried chilly into a bottle (there are some bottles with interesting shapes specially for olive oil), then pour in the olive oil, seal tight, then leave it for abour 1 week. Wrap the bottle with ribbon before you take it to the party :)

Easy Pasta

Feli will love this recipe... I whipped it up yesterday to recycle my leftover mushrooms hehe... and my friend loved it...
Ingredients:
1/2 pack of spaghetti -- boil with a few drops of olive oil and salt to aldente, drenched w/ cold water, add olive oil to prevent stickiness
1 pack of cherry tomato -- cut half
1/2 small packet sweet basil leave -- use fresh ones, coarsely chopped
200 gr minced lean pork
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 packet of mix mushroom -- cut mushroom to 4 (I use shitake, button mushroom, and enoki)
herbs: rosemary, thyme, parsley -- I prefer them fresh, but dried ones are more practical hehehe
seasoning: mix seasoning, sugar, nutmeg, black pepper, tomato ketchup, chilli sauce (2 belibis)
How to make:
1. saute garlic with olive oil until fragrant, then cook minced pork until half done (sprinkle the mix seasoning while stirring the pork, this will make the pork tasty and not smelly)
2. put the mushroom and the rest of ingredients (except the pasta). Saute until done, then set aside.
3. on the same skillet, heat up olive oil and scoop some of the sauteed pork and mushroom and mix it together with the pasta (when do this, it would be easier to use thongs or wooden chopsticks. It's faster and the pasta will easily well-mixed. If you don't know how to do it, watch those italian cooks in the restaurant cook the pasta, that should give you the idea hahaa...)
4. For garnish, can sprinkle the basil leave on top

Healthy Chicken Soup

I have this, both plain and herbal version, since I can remember. The soup will be served on several occasions: when any family member got sick, any praying dates, any family member's birthday, or anytime my mom feels like it :p. Anyway, tot that you guys should try this one. It's good for your heart and soul hahaha....
Plain version:
Chicken meat (pieces, I prefer skinless drumstick or tighs) -- 1 or 2 packs, depends on how much you wanna have
1 ginger, thinly sliced
1 can of champignon mushroom, drenched
1 pinch of salt (just for flavour
water (can't tell you how much, depends on how thick/thin/tasty you like your soup)
How to make:
1. on the steam pot, put in all ingredients, bring to boil, leave it for about 30 min. Voilla
Herbal version:
Ingredients:
Chicken meat (pieces, I prefer skinless drumstick or tighs) -- 1 or 2 packs, depends on how much you wanna have
1 cup of dried mullberries (ki chi, dunno how to spell it)
1 cup of dried longan
0.5 cup of dried dates -- the more you put this, the sweeter the soup will taste
7 slices of ginseng root
4 slices of gan gao (can't describe it)
there's another ingridients that looks like sticks (ask chinese herbal store, they should know) -- 3 sticks should do
water
How to make: same as the plain one :)

Marsala Chicken - Italian

First time taste this dish at Buca De Beppo, Seattle and since then chicken has never been the same hahaha (exegeration? not really..) I compiled several recipes for this one... This recipe is to be tried for fun, you can always go back to Buca to savor the ultimate Marsala Chicken... (anybody know the better taste ones?)
Ingredients:
2 chicken breast, cut to modest cubes 5 x 5 cm drench in flour
2 cups of marsala wine
1 pack of button mushroom (more luxurious choice: portobello or porcini)
seasoning: pepper, salt (sweet taste is provided by marsala wine)
How to make:
1. pan fry chicken until 3/4 cooked, set aside
2. on the same pan, scrap the left over flour, add oil and wine and stir until it thickens, to make it more thicker add flour (around 1 pintch) that is already mixed with little bit of wine
3. put back chicken and add mushroom, cooked thoroughly
4. served

Japanese Fried Rice ala St George

Yuni and Vero introduced me to St George, Seattle in 1998 and this was my first dish. It leads me and later, my brother too, to simple addiction and almost weekly ritual of dining in this resto for the next 2 years ... very boring, yes, but can't resist the temptation of enjoying simple food with great taste, even bear the strong cigarette smokes :p...
Ingredients:
2 cups of Japanese rice, already cooked
Tomato sauce to taste
1 tbsp of Worcestershire Sauce (indo: kecap Inggris)
1 tbsp of mirin
seasoning: pepper, sugar, salt
1 chicken breast, diced to small cubes
0.5 big onion, diced to small cubes
How to make:
Cook like usual fried rice and then top with omellette should do it...

Stir Fry Dou Miao Ala House of Nanking

Thanks to Feli, I tasted this very simple dish but very delicious at House of Nanking, San Francisco's China Town... My version my not be as spectacular as the restaurant's because the house kitchen's fire is different.
Ingridients:
1 pack of Dou Miao -- 1 pack should do for 1 portion (if you buy the bunch from Ranch 99, you might want to use only half)
3 tbsp of coarsely ground dried chili
3 tbsp of garlic
2 tbsp of mirin
3 tbsp of vegetable oil (may use lard to add more fat or calories :p)
seasoning: sugar and salt to taste
How to make:
1. Heat up oil to high and sautee garlic and chilli until fragrant
2. Put in dou miao and mirin, and stir fry until half-soft
3. Season it with sugar and salt to taste and stir until the seasoning blends well
4. Served :)

Crab Cakes

I got my inspiration from Tyler Florence's crabcake recipe in www.foodtv.com (a very good food channel and website). Although the crab meat is expensive, but should try once in a while to impress your loved ones (or may be future in-laws?) hehehe...
Ingredients:
400 gr of crab meat
300 gr of seasoned bread crumbs (I prefer italian or cajun seasoned)
1 green and yellow pepper, cut small cubes, may be sautee first if you dont want to wait
1 egg
seasoning: pepper, sugar, salt, additional cajun powder, red pepper powder
How to make:
1. In a mixing bowl, mix crab meat, green and yellow pepper, egg, bread crumbs and seasoning until well-mixed
2. Form patties with diameter of 5 cm, thickness can up to 2 cm
3. On the sautee pan, heat up olive oil and pan fried the patties until golden brown on both sides

Steamed Salmon with Leeks Ala White Ginger

I tried the similar dish at White Ginger, Seattle, and wonder why this simple dish tasted so yummy. After trial and errors, here is my version of Steamed Salmon with Leeks...
Ingredients:
300 gr of salmon fillet, cut into rectangle pieces about 6x10 cm
1 leeks, cut about 6 cm pieces and sliced thinly (this dish use lots of leeks)
lots of ginger (around 50 gr), sliced thinly
sauce: 1 cup of light soya sauce, 1 cup of mirin, 2 cup of sugar, cooked while stiring until boiling, set aside
How to make:
1. Place salmon, ginger on the surrounding and top in a steam bowl, then steam until it's well-cooked, but not to dry
2. How to serve: take the ginger off and surround salmon with sauce and top with leeks to your taste, and see how simple dish become so yummy...

Choco Ruhm Balls

A tribute to those ruhm lovers... It's easy to do when you have a CHOPPER, but a nightmare when you don't have it... mark my word for this :)
Ingredients:
1.5 to 2 packs of Marie Regal biscuits, crushed until smooth
5 tbsp of butter or margarine (I prefer white butter, but unless you're in Netherlands or Indo, it's very hard to get)
0.5 cup of icing sugar, strained for smoothness
3 tbsp of cocoa powder, strained
3 tbsp of powdered milk
ruhm to your taste (I can use up to half a bottle for this :) )
topping: icing sugar, cocoa powder, melted milk, dark or white chocolate (I use all for variety)
How to make:
1. in a mixing bowl, mix all ingredients, except for toppings, until smooth (not too sticky, not too tough)
2. form the mix into balls and line them up, chill for 10 min
3. for cocoa powder and icing sugar topping: roll the balls until all sides cover with cocoa powder or icing sugar
4. melt chocolate and place 1 tsp on top of the balls
5. chill the balls for at least 2 hours, then serve cold

Seafood Porridge

A healthier version of what's served in restaurants (minus the MSG, and more ingridients)
Ingredients:
150 gr sliced fish (choose between white cod, dory, batang, and sea bass, don't use hallibut -- it gets tough and dry)
100 gr scallop (can use dried or fresh) -- I prefer dried because it's more fragrant, but the fresh ones taste smoother, so it depends on your preference
150 gr shrimp meat
100 gr crab meat (can use immitation)
*optional: 100 gr sliced squid -- I personally dont like it because it tastes like rubber if it's cooked too long
8 dried shitake, soak in hot water for min 2 hours, sliced
2 cups of rice
5 cups of water (use canned chicken stock for more taste)
seasoning: pepper, salt, soya sauce, mirin (to taste)
5 cm of ginger, sliced
3 tbsp of sesame oil
sliced green onion for garnishing
How to make:
1. heat the sesame oil in the porridge pan, sautee ginger until fragrant
2. put in rice and water and leave it for around 10 min (medium heat) or until it boils, then stirr until the porridge thicken (around 15-20 min)
3. put in the rest of ingridients and stirr until it boils again
4. served with green onion as garnish

Pepper Salted Squid ala Tian Hong

My masterpiece.... First time try the same dish in Portland's 'Tian Hong', a very yummy dish with the price tag of around $16.00 +++. Raw material is only $2.50 max (squid, garlic and jalapenno) if you use calamari, add $3.00.... Easy to do and cheap... the result is also very rewarding...
Ingredients:
1 packed of squid or calamari (in US, calamari is already sliced, for squid you have to clean the squids, skin them then slice)
flour mix: 3 cup of flour 5 tbsp of corn starch, lots of pepper, sugar and salt with ratio of 3:2:1 in order, mix all of them in a medium clean plastic bag
2 jalapenno sliced (I prefer jalapenno because it's still crunchy after you sautee, while usual green chili is not, but since jalapenno is very rare in Asian countries, substitute jalapenno with green chili)
3 tbsp of garlic
seasoning: pepper, sugar, salt to taste (if you like saltish food, you add more salt)
How to make:
1. throw the sliced squid into the flour mix's plastic bag and shake the bag until all squid covered with flour
2. deep-fry the squid until golden color in high heat, and set aside
3. in a stir-fry pan, heat up oil to high heat and sautee garlic and sliced jalapenno until fragrant
4. put in fried squid and add more seasonings to taste, then pan-fried the squid until the seasonings are equally covered, then voilla...

Milky Nata De Coco

A great party idea... Easy dessert that will imprest your guests enough to make them ask around 'where did you get the idea?' --> From St George hehe...
Ingredients: (for 4-6 people)
1 small pint of your favorite vanilla ice cream (Hagen Daaz a bit too soft for this, suggest to try rougher ice cream)
1 small can of mixed fruit cocktail, drenched
1 packet of nata de coco, drenched
500 ml milk (whole milk or half and half , 2% fat and non fat milk are BANNED)
How to make:
1. Place 1 scoope of ice cream in the middle of small bowl
2. Place 2 tbsp of cocktail and nata de coco circling the ice cream
3. Also circle the milk around the ice cream (around 100-150 ml is enough)

Hong Kong Trip 2008

It’s been almost 2 weeks since we come back from our Hong Kong trip. Off course everybody has seen the album on my photo gallery, right? The number of pics taken shows how much we had fun there. Since the pics is quite random, let me do the chronological order of the things that we’ve done in there J

Day 1 – Singapore – Hong Kong
Being kiasu *shy*, we took the very first flight to Hong Kong. Basically we just slept through the flight since we only slept for 2 hours and had to be in airport by 5am (it’s amazing that we could even wake up). We reached Hong Kong at10am and never thought that the custom queue would be incredibly long that when we were out of it, it’s lunch time already. So, we quickly hit the recommended sushi restaurant, Itamae Sushi at T2 6th floor, and had fantastic sushi. I liked their squid (it’s because they torched the squid before serving so that it looks like cactus) and their roasted salmon (the meat so thick it satisfied you with just 1 piece, *actually we ordered again haha*). Later on the trip we found the branch in Tsim Tsa Tsui,
With filled stomach, we finally arrived at our hotel, YMCA Yau Ma Tei (very decent hotel considering the rate compared to other hotels). After having a good nap, we hit Shatin for its Snoopy World and the gigantic big mall. Snoopy World is fun, full of cute Snoopy & Woodstock and it’s FREE *grin*. Then back to the mall. It’s HUGE and it has my fave shop, PIT, no matter how you see it, their stuff is the cutest and definitely wearable and most of all, affordable, even for me. Off course there’re a whole lots of other stores (I wouldn’t be raving about this mall here for nothing). Another fantastic thing about this mall is that it has a huge terrace on its highest floor (either 6th or 7th floor) and it’s super romantic and cozy with the view of housing buildings. Lots of couples are cozying up there and honestly it makes me jealous *shy* haha. To close the 1st day fun, we have a mango dessert with pamello and tofu pudding on dessert stall upstair. It’s nice and soothing, perfect to end the day.

Day 2 – Hong Kong
Day 2 was actually a food fiesta. We met my ex-boss for lunch. He brought us to this Yue Kee Roasted Goose. The place is located in the middle of nowhere. Somewhere along the highway, there’s this small road path and when you see the place (it’s a rundown small 2 storey building), you’ll wonder what makes this place famous (mind you, they have valet parking haha). But don’t let the appearance fools you. Inside that small building there’s a huge kitchen and lots of big tables, which made us wonder how they did that. Never mind about the place, now let’s talk about the food. The food is… superb! The goose skin is so crisp and yes, it’s oily, but it’s crisp and tasty and the meat is so tender and easily chewed on. Apart from that, the fried shrimp is divine, they marinated them in some old soy sauce, deep fry and sauté with garlic and green chili. The highlight of my lunch is the fried tofu. It’s so soft and it feels like you’re eating soya milk. Those tofu bits melt immediately in your mouth. After a very joyful lunch, we went to the sights where we can see all Hong Kong bridges (you won’t find it in tourist guides since it’s in the middle of NOWHERE). Fantastic views. By this time, we’re keep giddily happy and busy taking pictures and off course thanking my ex-boss for his kind generosity.
Then, there we were stranded in Tsim Tsa Tsui roaming blindly with no direction in hope of looking for cute stores and alas, it’s very hard to find. Tsim Tsa Tsui is not like malls where you can find everything in 1 place. Bet all those cute stores surely have 1 small stall there but where are they? So after walking here and there for about 2 hours, it’s time for… high tea at Peninsula. Peninsula is one of the most expensive hotels in Hong Kong and it lives up to its standard. It’s arcade is filled with Dior, Hermes and the rest are jewelry store. I like the high tea set here because: 1. it has lots of variety of food for you to sample 2. the scones are to die for (slap on some butter and you’ll have wings on your back) 3. use your imagination, you’re dead tired from shopping and there you are sitting on the cozy sofa, sipping tea, and your ears are indulged with the sound of classical music. No wonder we have to queue to sip the tea there. Apart from the scones and butter, another highlight is the lavender scented white chocolate. The taste is unforgettable. My highlight from 2005 trip is the tiramisu, but this time they change the tiramisu using green tea instead of ice coffee.
** Extra: One highlight from Hong Kong’s 7-11 stores. They have the Nestle yogurt drinks which taste very very refreshing. I tried the pear/peach and berry flavor. They’re not too sweet but also not sour. Just nice to cool your body off after gulping all those hitty things.

Day 3 – Hong Kong – Macao – Hong Kong
We went to Macao for day 3 to visit Feli’s aunt and grandma. After the heartfelt family reunion, we ventured Macao with Feli’s aunt as our guide. We visited St Paulo’s Church, St Dominic Cathedral, Senado Square, Macao-China border, and off course, the casinos (Sands, Wynn and Venetian are the ones that we visited). The casinos are more like miniature version of the ones in Las Vegas, literally copied over from the original. We spent the rest of the afternoon taking pictures in Venetian until it’s time for us to go back. One thing about Macao is that it gives out a romantic air almost everywhere. You can easily note couple spots here and there.
FYI, all the places mentioned earlier is not located in the same area. We go merry go round literally walk across Macao. And we climb up to the top of the fortress next to St Paulo’s Church where you can view 360 degree of Macao. Macao’s famous snacks are Portuguese egg tarts which is rich in custard with succulent pie shell, almond biscuits (very nice when warm), and wife biscuits.
Yes folks, it’s miracle that me and Feli can survive the whole Macao experience without any food review. Off course we did sample this and that but that’s about it. That’s why by the time we’re back in Hong Kong, we’re starving. But, here’s the catch, after all day walking, we off course would like to indulge ourselves in good food. So we turn ourselves to the HK food guidelines that we grabbed in the airport. I grabbed the English and Japanese one. If you think that it’s just a matter of translation between the English and Jap one, you’re very wrong! The Jap one is all about award winning food and restaurant, they have the complete direction of the place (so basically you just point at whatever is written there to the taxi driver, since you can’t speak Cantonese and Mandarin) and they have at least 2-3 items of what’s good there. So, we finally arrived at Tsui Hang Village at Miramar Shopping Center (how did we know that we’re going to the correct one? We matched the Chinese character hahaa). There’s a wedding going on when we reached and luckily the waitress was kind enough to notice these 2 tourists looked clueless and hungry in front of her and ushered us to the upper storey. We ordered the award winning Shark fin soup, Yam fried balls and Steam tofu. The soup is divine, the steamed egg below the soup is so subtle and it’s like unison inside your mouth. The yam ball is scrumptious, just nice. The tofu, it’s so cute! They make it into flower shaped and shower it with the sauce. I like the sauce, it reminds me of one of my mom’s home cooking. So that’s how day 3 ends, 2 happy girls with go back to the hotel after a long day in Macao.

Day 4 – Hong Kong – Lantao Island
As tourists, we must go sight seeing. So, we picked Lantao Island to visit the famous Giant Buddha. Yes we like sight seeing but we, city girls, don’t like the long journey to reach the place. Initially, we need to take a 4+hour ride on buss to reach there (from our hotel to the top of that mountain). The good thing about Hong Kong is they understand us. So we cut short by 20 min MTR to Tung Chung and another 20 min by cable car to reach the top. One miscalculation from our part is that because we’re dead tired from Macao trip, we woke up late and ended up queuing for quite amount of time for the cable car. When we reached the top, we still needed to walk to be able to see the Buddha. Lots of people climb the long inclining stairs to reach the Buddha. We both stared at each other and say, there’s no way we’re gonna climb up there. So that concluded our Lantao Island trip.
We then went to Tsing Yi and discovered another fantastic mall. It has the Very shop. Also have cute stuffs but a slightly different style from PIT. Another shop to be noticed is the Simple Dress. It features Korean brand dresses. Lots of them are for office wear. The point is that you also can look cute, stylish yet professional in the office. I like Tsing Yi mall because apart from it has cute stores, it also has the mango dessert place which is NICE.
After Tsing Yi, we ventured to Olympic. It also has a shopping center there but we found that it’s not as exciting as the one in Tsing Yi. So, we went straight back and decided to have dinner at Tsim Tsa Tsui. But it turned out that it’s not that easy to find suitable eating place there. Reason #1: We can’t read Chinese. We certainly didn’t want to eat sushi so we’re thinking of something local. Then we came across 1 stall along Granville Rd with quite enticing pictures and it looked full. So we bravely went inside. The waiter couldn’t speak either Mandarin or English and obviously no English menu. So we just picked from the ones on the picture. We’re a bit puzzled when the guy kept mentioning it’s spicy. Since when is wonton soup spicy? So we opted for medium. We only knew what he meant when the food came out. They’re looked good, honestly with curry like soup. We only realized that we made a wrong choice when we gulped the soup. It’s freaking HOT and SPICY and that guy called it medium. Feli couldn’t finish her food, poor girl, she couldn’t stand the spiciness. The food actually tastes good when the soup cools down a bit. And then I spot something mortifying to us. A guy slurping the soup from the bowl like it’s nothing. If you really like spicy food, you’ll love this joint, which that’s why lots of local people going there. And it’s damn CHEAP considering their portion is quite big. We had 4 dishes total and it cost us less than 100HKD total. So our last night in Hong Kong will be remembered for a long time by super spicy noodle soup.

Day 5 – Hong Kong – Singapore
Hong Kong trip will not be complete without the famous Yam Cha. So we had yam cha for our last breakfast at Chao In (Tsim Tsa Tsui branch). The restaurant view was splendid for morning breakfast. Ordering was not a problem until the waitress told us that they’re only using Chinese menu. Luckily she’s kind enough to translate for us. The dishes are nice and on par for standard good dim sum. One thing I didn’t really like was they could have duplicate orders so you need to keep track on what you’ve been eating.
Being almost broke from shopping and the need to walk off our breakfast spoil, we decided to venture Sheng Wan district in search for the yummy bird nest soup that I had during my 2005 trip. After hours of walking up and down on Wing Lock Street we gave up. In deed Wing Lock Street has tons of bird nest shop but none of them seems to serve the cooked ones aka like dessert shop or something (the one that I went to last time look like a run down shop but it actually serves bird nest dessert).
So, sadly we went back to Yau Ma Tei area to spend our hours in Hong Kong land before back to the airport. While strolling, we came across Yee Shun Milk Company. We’re so happy to see the picture of milk pudding and most of all, the English menu. So, we went in and had a nice rest and enjoyed the delightful milky desserts. And thus this concludes our Hong Kong trip.

One more experience that I extremely feel the need to highlight is the standard of service. Hong Kong now is much better than in 2005. Now most of the shop assistants are able to speak English, eliminating the language barrier. Even though they couldn’t really speak English, they make lots of efforts to understand you and take extra miles to literally make you happy. Simple things like not frowning or making face when you don’t like their products and walk of the store, initiatively offering bigger shopping bags to combine your small ones, translating the Chinese menu (when you’re in the restaurant), always approach you with a smile, attend to your questions with no sign of complains, or make an effort to speak in English so that you can understand them, really make the difference for customers. And most of all, their intentions of service felt genuine, not in the sense that ‘I speak nicely therefore you must buy, else I make face’.
Overall, I like Hong Kong, and will be very happy to make another trip there. *grin*

Way of Life - V6

Another nice song by V6 (quite sometime ago already, but still one of my fave)

ふと　気がつけば　時は過ぎてあてもなく　ただ一人さまよう雲の切れ間に　光が射し照らし出す日々　かざす手のひらIt's a way of life前だけ向いて歩いた灰色な日々から抜け出すためにためらいも　疑いも　何もかも受け入れて駆け抜けた道　立ち止まって振り返る　昨日にまた揺らぐ心をかばって追いかけてゆく　追いかけてく守りたい明日がある歩いてく　今日を信じてそしていつしか　時は巡りまた繰り返す　同じ毎日It's a way of lifeどんな未来を待ってる？灰色な日々が残す残像にため息も　悲しみも　何もかも溶かしてくこんなにもまだ　覚えているあの日見た夢の続き共に交わした約束呼び続けても　呼び止めても戻れない昨日になるだから今　この手のばしてよみがえる　幼き記憶を辿っても　何処にも行けやしないありのまま　心のまま伝えたい想いを今叫ぶ　声を枯らして駆け抜けた道　立ち止まって届かない想いも　ほらいつか解り合えたらと追いかけてゆく　追いかけてく守りたい明日がある歩いてく　今日もこうして歩いてく　今日を信じて

Hana ga mebuku sugata to ka kawari yuku machi dato kaZutto ki ni tomenai de ita ki ni kakeru yoyuu mo nakuBoku wa sukoshi tsukareteta kanaaKimi ga ite kurete sukuwareta ndaArigatou no kotoba ga imaSotto bokura wo tsutsumu darouSore wa honno sasaina kotoBoku wa mitsukerareta yoShisen ga au sore dake de koe ga suru sore dake deKyou wo ikitete yokatta to kokoro kara omoeru ndaKimi no egao taisetsu deshita...Arigatou to iu kotoba woIchido iu dakede egao gaAfurete shiawase ga sakuAI wo komete arigatouArigatou to iwasete hoshiiTatoeba nannen tatte moKitto kawarazu boku wa madaKyou wo oboete iru yoArigatou no kotoba ga imaSotto bokura wo tsutsumu darouSore wa honno sasaina kotoBoku wa mitsukerareta yoArigatou no kotoba-tachi gaKonna ni yasashiku saseru yoWaratte SHIWA wo fuyashiteHibi wo kasanete yukouBoku wa mitsukerareta...

Egg Fuu Young

I made egg fou yong through trial and error... until finally get the easier way to make it and taste good hehehe...
Ingredients:
4 eggs, break and beat until it nicely blended, set aside
2 carrots, shredded
1/2 cabbage, thinly shredded
200 gr minced pork (I preffer lean minced pork - less fat)
200 gr shrimp meat, chopped coarsely
1/2 onion, thinly shredded, chopped coarsely
* optional: 100 gr crab meat
seasoning: mirin, soy sauce, pepper, salt and sugar to taste
gravy ingredients:
* 100 gr frozen green peas
* corn starch -- 3 tbsp, mixed with 3 tbsp water
* 2.5 cup of water
* tomato ketchup, oyster sauce, sugar, salt to your taste
How to make:
1. Heat up oil in a frying pan and cook the onion until soft
2. Add the rest of ingredients start with the meat and cabbage then the carrot. Seasoned with the seasoning above and stir fry.
3. Scoope the stir fry veggie and meat (to your liking) into the beaten eggs and beat again
4. on the frying pan, heat up oil again and place the mix and cook like you are cooking pancakes
5. Gravy:
* thaw the grean peas, drenched and set aside
* on the sauce pan, heat up the water until it boils, then put all the seasoning (depends on your taste, if you want the gravy to be brownish, add more oyster sauce, if your want to be more reddish, add more ketchup) and stir well until the second boil
* add the corn starch mix until it thickens and boils again, then set aside
6. Place the fou yong in the middle of the plate, stack them up like pancakes, cut into 4 section, and layer with the gravy, then garnish with parsley

Pilaf Doria

First time I had this dish was at St George, Seattle (My fave resto, tried almost all the main dishes, appetizers and desserts).... Anyway, here's my version of pilaf doria (less fattening hehehe)
Ingredients:
1 chicken breast -- sliced to small cube
1/2 green, 1/2 red and 1/2 yellow pepper -- sliced to small cube
1/2 onion -- sliced to small cube
1 packet of shredded mix mozarella and parmezan cheese
3 bowl of rice (preferable Japanese rice)
seasoning: soy sauce, mirin, pepper, sugar, salt to your taste
How to make:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F
2. In a fry pan, heat up olive oil to hot
3. Stir fry chicken, green and yellow pepper until half done
4. Put rice and seasoning and stir fry until fragrant and the rice turn color (looks more like making fried rice huh? :) )
5. Brush 2 baking bowl (diameter of 10 - 12 cm) with olive oil or butter, divide the cooked rice into 2 and place it on the bowls. Layer the rice with the mixed cheese and baked in the oven until the cheese melt and turn to golden.

Easy Breezy Chicken Rice

If you don't want to waste time but want to taste something good, this recipe is for you :)
Ingridients:
2 cup of rice
3 cup of canned chicken stock
1 tbsp minced ginger (used bottle, no point of self torture)
1 tbsp minced garlic (quote the same remarks)
2 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp soy sauce (to your taste)
How to make:
1. In your rice cooker,place all the ingridients
2. Turn on your rice cooker, stir a bit for 5 min
3. Close your cooker and wait until it's done --> ready to eat

Fried Fish with Lemon Sauce

This is Feli's fave food when we were housemate in SF hehehe...
Ingridients:
1 fish fillet (you can use white cod, dory, or seabass if you want to splurge hehe) -- cut to 3x3 cm pieces
flour mix -- 1.5 cup of flour, 0.5 cup of corn starch, 3 tbsp of sugar, 2 tbsp of pepper, 1 tbsp of salt --> mix together
for sauce:
1 lemon -- scrape and chop the skin for more tangy taste use the juice for sauce
3 tbsp of honey
1 handful of chopped parsley ( I prefer the fresh one), also can be used for garnish
3 tbsp of mirin or sake (white wine eg chardoney can do the trick too)
How to make:
1. drench the cutted-fish into he flour mix and stir fry or deep fry until they are turn golden
2. for sauce, mix all sauce ingridients in the sauce pan and stir until it boils, add parsley
3. place the fish on the plate and use the sauce as dipping sauce or place them together

Japanese Mushroom Rice

Hello, here is my version of mushroom rice. I tried yesterday, yummy at the first try, so have to share this hehehe....
Ingridients:
1 packet Shitake mushroom (thinly slice)
1 packet Maitake mushroom (cut small)
1 packet white button mushroom (thinly slice)
You can also add your favorite mushroom eg. enoki, abalone mushroom (according to what's available in the supermarket off course). Plus for more flavour, you can add bamboo shoots and some chicken wouldn't hurt also.
4 to 5 tbsp soy sauce (or to your taste)
4 tbsp sesame oil (as long as thinly cover your pan)
salt, pepper, sugar to your taste
2 tbsp mirin (japanese cooking wine, can use sake also)
2 cup of Japanese rice , washed
2.5 cup of chicken stock (I use canned chicken stock --> unless you want to torture yourself boiling the real chicken) --> ratio 1 cup of rice : 1.25 cup of stock
How to cook:
1. heat up sesame oil on the pan and sautee all the mushrooms until half-cooked
2. add mirin and seasonings, then sautee until cooked thoroughly
3. on the rice cooker, place the rice and the chicken stock, then add the sauteed mushroom on the top, stir a bit, and on the rice cooker
4. the rice cooker tick off --> voilla there's your mushroom rice