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June 05 My Dad's BreadGuess what this is??  Got it figured out?? If you said either,
To be precise, it's wholemeal bread... Anyway, more pics...  Anyway, after getting the bread out of the baking tin, we have to put the little round bread on the rack to cool. After that, have to protect the bread from the flies and stuff.. Keke..  As for recipe, I can't disclose as I didn't bake the bread. My dad did. He has the recipe somewhere in his head. After much experiment, he found the proper formula to bake nice bread. With the cost of stuff increasing, baking your own bread makes a lot of sense. It costs RM4.50 for wholemeal and its usually very sweet. My dad puts very little sugar and he uses no perservative. The cost of getting the flour is a little pricey but he can make a lot of bread from it. :) Besides, you can add in any other stuff you want, like dried fruit, extra cereal to make the bread tasty. How long does his baked read last? About 1-1.5 weeks. However, we will cut up the bread and put it in the freezer so that it will last longer naturally. What do I put on my dad's bread? Well, plain old butter will suffice. Its great for sandwiches too!! Hehe... Yummy!!!! May 27 Jamie Oliver's B'dayIt's 12:29am, May 27th 2006. Do you know where your celebrity chef is? It's Jamie Oliver's Birthday. He's officially 31 this year and venturing well into his 30's. I'm wondering if I'll hold up when I start my 30's...  Happy B'day Jamie!! Cheers!!!!!! P/S: Jamie Oliver is my fav celebrity chef. Love his recipes and tips. As you might have noticed from my foodie postings.. Kekekeke... ^____^ April 17 Pork Chops with MashAh... Another one of my "foodie" entries.   Yes... It certainly does look good... Yum... **slurrp** **drool** Anyway, I had to make dinner for myself again and armed with no more than old pork chops, some lettuce, tomatoes and a couple of potatoes, I decided to make myself a nice meal of pork chops. Ingredients 2-3 pieces of pork chops 1 clove garlic finely chopped Herbs: some Mixed Herbs salt & pepper to taste 1 tablespoon of olive oil Method To make the marinade, follow the recipe as stated in my previous post Yummy Roast Chicken. Anyway, leave the marinade on for at least 30 minutes. Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes or until cooked. You can check by poking the meat. If it goes through easily, it's cooked. A little tip is if you want to have the "char-grilled" look, you can try to grill your meat for the last 5 minutes.  Anyway, if you're one of the luckier people with a grill pan, you can try to cook this on a grill pan. Serve with a side of mash and vegetables/salad.
Here's another loving look at the chops I cooked....
SLUURRRRPPPP!!!!! April 03 Dinner @ Chalet Suisse What a romantic atmosphere... Dimmed lights, lanterns on the table, it had the perfect atmosphere. This time, I happened to be having dinner with a group of friends at the Chalet Suisse @ Ampang. It came highly recommended by a mate, who happened to be very astute in her tastes but she doesn't claim to be a foodie. My mate actually wanted to go for French food and I still wonder why we ended up going for Swiss food instead. I wondered if they were curious about fondue. However, I was largely mistaken... Friend #1: Eh, what is good here? Me: Huh?? I thought you recommended this place. Now, you ask me what to eat?? Friend #1: Dunno-le, my friend recommend 1. Wait-ar, I call him. Me: 0_o.... That's ok... Sometimes, we have to try other people's suggestion since we're running out of ideas. Anyway, while looking through the menu... Friend #3: Eh... What's veal? Me: A young cow. Friend #2: Oh! You mean its beef? Me: No. It's not beef, it's meat from a young cow. But if you want specifics, yes, it's a cow. Friend #2: Say so-la... I can't blame these friends because they've been busy and so, they don't have time to read up on food or even go out to have a really nice meal because of work and stuff. Anyway, after about... 45 minutes of just scratching our heads on what to order and figuring out the names of the food on the menu, we had this lovely bread basket on our table.  The bread came with some butter and some olive oil spread which was practically yummylicious! As usual, some of my friends were skeptical about what was on the table... Friend #1: Eh... What's that? Is that bread? (Pointing to basket) Friend #2: Yea. Rye bread... Friend #1: Eeee... What's that? Me: It's like wholemeal but made only with rye. Quite healthy and yummy. Friend #1: Ohh.. I only take white bread. Me: Aiyah... Should take this! Very healthy. Its quite good! (chowing down the bread) Anyway, the olive oil spread was starred at with much skepticism and no one was game to eat it. I love olive oil anyway and was game to try it out. Me: Yummy!! Yummy!! It's olive oil with some garlic and some spices. Can't figure it out. Friend #3: Is it nice? Me: Definitely yummy!! Goes very well with the bread.... Friend #2: Sure? Doesn't look appetizing... Me: Trust me. This is good stuff!! Try it! (chowing down more bread) ** The rest elbowing for a small spoonful of the olive oil **  Finally, our appetizer came. It was the Gratinated Crabmeat Mornay, which was grated crabmeat in a rich white sauce placed in an empty crabshell. The meat was then covered with mashed potatoes. Absolutely delicious! After loading up on bread (2 rounds) and our appetizer, we had our main course. I ordered a very fine ox tail soup as well which was rich in flavour with finely chopped parsley as a garnish. A few main courses came with rösti and some of my friends didn't know what it was... Friend #1: What's that?? (Pointing to rösti) Me: It's your rösti. Friend #1: Did it come with my meat?? Me: Yes, it did. Didn't you read your menu? Friend #1: Oh.. I didn't... I think I forgot what I ordered.. BTW, what's rösti? Me: It's finely sliced potatoes fried like a pancake. Friend #1: Oh.. I don't like potatoes... Me: ** Vomit rösti ** Oh well... I had a lovely honey-glazed roasted duck breast, which came with a side of mashed potatoes and red cabbage. My friends poked and proded my red cabbage. It tasted like normal cabbage, only that its colour was more purple than red. Anyway, here's the pic...  Anyway, after a hearty meal. We pondered about our next location when, my friend saw something across the room. Friend #1: Eh... (Pointing to couple sitting across the room) What are they eating? Friend #2: Wah liao.. Yealo.. So much bread one??? Me: Oh! They're having a fondue. Friend #1: What?? FUNN DOOO??? What the heck is that? Me: Mmmm... It's a Swiss specialty. It's melted cheese in a pot and you take some bread and dip it inside to eat it. Friend #3: Oh... Why do they do that? Me: Don't know, but Switzerland is a mountainous country and it's a common food for farmers. Friend #4: Smells smelly-la... Me: I think it's because they have like 4 different cheeses inside. If you don't like cheese, chances are, you may not like this. Friend #1: I didn't know that they served this here? Me: o_0... We're at a Swiss restaurant-la... This is like their national dish... I think some of my friends were expecting lots of sausages and stuff. Hmmm.. They probably got mixed up with Germany or Austria........ -_-" I think they thought that the restaurant we were in was a German one.. -___-""""" Anyway, in this group, I had two friends who went to Europe, but I think they didn't know or couldn't remember the places they visited. I think they associated Switzerland with Swatch and chocolates only...... I can't blame my friends. 96% of them are accountants and they don't get out as much. We've not been very adventurous when it comes to Western food. Actually, we're all not very adventurous in food. As you can probably tell, they're very suspicous about what goes into their tummy. My review of the place? Well, the food is so-so, but rather good for Swiss food (considering that I've never gone to Switzerland before) and I enjoyed the food they served. I'd guess my friends were not used to veal and they didn't quite like it. It's an acquired taste. I think I'll probably bring them to Mövenpick Marché @ The Curve which is a more Malaysianised version of Swiss food. March 30 Sausage & Bacon With Tomato Angel Hair SpaghettiAnother "foodie" entry... I tried yet another experiment last night with some sausages, bacon and "angel hair" spaghetti. Turned out pretty ok, could have used a bit more flavour, though. :P Anyway here goes.... Ingredients 2 sausages (any kind, if you prefer spicy, it's ok) sliced 1 piece of back bacon (less fat) chopped 1 portion of angel hair spaghetti 2 tomatos diced 1 clove of garlic chopped finely 2 small onions chopped finely 2 table spoons of tomato sauce or 1 tin of tomatos 1/2 cup of water salt & pepper to taste some olive oil optional: 1 dried chilli chopped finely NOTE: The portions here is for 1-2 persons only. Method
Anyway, I think if you add in stuff like basil which goes so well with tomatos, it would definitely make the dish very tasty. I had my spaghetti with a side salad. Have a go!!! March 29 Yummy Roast ChickenHehe...
Another post about food. :) I'm currently in the mood of experimenting some recipes.
However, yet again, I don't have my camera handy and so, can't show the gorgeous 1/2 roasted chicken I made for myself tonight for din-din. So, you'll just have to take my word for it. LOL!
Anyway, I found the recipe while nosing around Jamie Oliver's site and found this lovely recipe of Lemon-Roasted Chicken With Sweet Tomato Pasta.
However, I didn't want to make pasta for tonight, had in mind to cook pasta tomorrow instead. ;)
Anyway, I followed the recipe's ingredient, modified it to cover for 1/2 a chicken instead of the 5 drumsticks as stated.
What do I have to say about this recipe?
- It turned out fabulous baby!! I had a salad and your typical mash to accompany the meat. The mash wasn't so great as I didn't have the proper potatoes to start with and I added too much low-fat milk instead of cream. Haha, but I do have to admit that boiling your potatoes in salted water gives it a good kick and then, flavouring the mash later with butter and then with a bit of salt & pepper does make the mash better. I've never been able to make proper mash and have always resorted to the instant mash as a last resort. Haha
Well, I have some leftovers and I've shared it with Snoopy who loves it immensely.
Ooo yeah!! Do remember to salt the chicken as well.... I salted the 1/2 chicken's underside and it did wonders for flavours as well.
I didn't use the oven too but a Turbo Broiler, where I rested the chicken on the rack instead of a tray which let the yummy stuff drip down to a tray below for sauce. :P Pretty useful for you healthy types!!
The important thing to remember as well is to rest the chicken after roasting because you don't want to lose all that yummy sauce and flavour once you start carving after its just roasted. Believe me, it does wonders!
Anyway, I'm thinking about my next dish. It'll be a simple sausage-bacon tomato-based pasta. Got heaps of tomatos and not sure what to do with it! LOL!!!
Eat, drink and be merry (not Mary)... HAHA March 27 Pita Madness!!!I've been going nuts over pita bread lately. I love it when its toasted. It goes so well in salads and as a sandwich, really yummy... Anyway, I came up with a pretty good Vegetarian Pita Sandwich recipe. Here goes... Ingredients Butterhead lettuce - 2 or 3 slices Tomato - 1 medium sized sliced thinly Pita bread - 1 half Cottage Cheese - 2 teaspoons Butter - to taste Red onion - 1 small size chopped finely Method 1. Split the pita bread into 2 halves. Toast the pita bread using a toaster. 2. Butter both sides (if you like) of the pita 3. Stack up the ingredients as you like: lettuce-sliced tomato-cottage cheese-onions 4. Compress the sandwich 5. Eat!!!! This is a very good vegetarian option for a light lunch/dinner. If you like any seasoning, probably you can sprinkle some salt/pepper. I used a gherkin flavoured cottage cheese and it added a nice sour taste to the sandwich. If pita is not your bread, these ingredients can help to make a nice open-faced sandwich.  I wish I had my camera with me so that I can show you the result of the sandwich, but for now, just imagine it. ;) Hmmmm, if you don't like my vegetarian option, you can add meat of your liking - sausages, salami or ham. Try it out and let me know!! March 08 What's Left Of It Mmmm... Sedap-nya!!!! (Translation: Mmmm... Yummy!!!!!) Had a really lovely lunch with some mates on Saturday, where we celebrated one mate who was turning the big 3-0. Anyway, we over-ordered (for the 1st time) and had a really heavy lunch of just various types of seafood. Our saving grace was ordering a really nice vegetable dish and not taking a lot of rice. **AHEM** Yours Truly overate as usual and had to act on behalf of MPSJ to help clean up the leftovers. So, what did we have?
I took a big chunk from the steamed fish and at the end of the meal, I decided to take a photo of how we managed to "clean" the fish, leaving just the head and back-bone of the fish along with some other non-edible parts. Its all thanks to a friend who did a wonderful job dividing up the fish for all of us! Thanks PP!! Haha, you make a wonderful host! My only regret was that I didn't get to eat my favourite Butter Crab, which is crab served in a hotpot filled with creamy, butter sauce. **SLURP** Anyway, after all this talk about food, I'm sure some of you would have guessed that we had our meal at a Chinese Seafood place. Yup... We did... The place was pretty packed on a Sunday afternoon and it boasts of a wide variety of fresh seafood. You know, the kind of place where you go to see your meal before they serve it to you.  Oh well, after all the high-cholesterol food, I'm sure that it'll be a long time before we go for a seafood meal again. I heard that for the next b'day, we might go for some nice French/Italian food. The b'day gal also suggested Jap... Hmmmm... Here we go again!!!! March 02 Laksa...** 11:39:10pm - Private study, Minas Tirith, Gondor, Middle Earth ** Ahh... I've finally found some time to log something... A couple of days ago, my dearest mother decided to cook up some Kuching laksa for us. I had EV bring a few packets over from her place since she was doing some D-H-L (DIY-Home-Logistics) service to send some stuff to her family members here in Gondor (aka Kay AL). Anyway, the following picture shows how yummy the laksa got.. **slurp!!**  Sure looks good, right? Mom added some extra mint leaves to spice up the yummy sauce and it tastes really good. The important ingredient is to have the lime juice as well because that adds a bit of sourish taste to a very creamy curried sauce. The big difference between regular curry laksa and Kuching laksa? Well, Kuching laksa seems to use a different blend of spices and other "wet" ingredients, making it feel a bit more "sambal-ish" instead of very curry-like. It also tends to look rather "hot" because it looks redder than regular curry laksa but its not too spicy. I first came across this when EV suddenly pulled this out from her bag of goodies back in OZ-land. ** XX May 1997 - EV's lair, OZ-land ** EV: "Aiya, still got this-le.. Nearly 1 year liao... Must cook" ** Walk over to 8 (pat) ** Me: "What the heck is that????" EV: "Laksa liaow-lo........." (liaow = oil/paste) Me: "What the heck is that????? Wait.. Wait... How in the heck did you get pass immigration???" EV: "Ehehehe... Just walk by-la..." Me: "WHAT???? You didn't declare this?? I travelled with you and you could have gotten caught??!!! WHAT ELSE DID YOU BRING OVER???? " ** Hyperventilating ** EV: "What-la you... No need to panic-la. My fadder wrap nice-nice one.." ** EV busily unwraps another package ** Me: "OK.. OK.. Nevermind.. What the heck is this??" ** points to package ** EV: "Laksa liaow-lo....." Me: -_________- " I know... What do you do with it?" EV: "You cook it-lo. Then, you eat it-lo" Me: .............. Me: "So, you intend to cook it?" EV: "Yea, how many people do you think this will feed" ** prodding the laksa liaow packet ** Me: "How the hell would I know??" EV: "Neaaveerrrrmmind-la. I go ask Gene. She might know." Me: ........ ** pengsan ** In the end, EV did ask Gene and she was clueless as well. They managed to "reconstruct" the laksa from memory based on 20 odd years of experience eating it. When they opened the packet of laksa liaow, they found a surprise.. EV: "Aiya!! Got instructions one........" Me & the gang: ....... ** mass pengsan ** Try it!! Yummy as heck and good for tummy too!! More info... go here --> More Info February 18 Last of the Achar.. Mom made a big batch of "achar" (Nyonya-styled pickled vegetables topped with a crushed roasted peanuts and sesame seed mixture) for CNY. Anyway, last night for din-din, we had the very last bit of it. Yummy as always as it was sweet and sour as well as smokey (from the roasted peanut-sesame seed sprinkles). This dish is always very yummy when taken with hot, steamy white rice. My mom doesn't make this very often. She'll probably make it twice a year, if she feels like it. When its made, my Dad makes a big announcement to some other members of the family. Immediately, some assume that my mom would make the "Nasi Kunyit" with Chicken Curry, another family favourite. I typically like to take this whenever my mom cooks "Granny's Mixed Vegetables" dish. This vegetable dish comprise of chinese cabbage, fried shallots, garlic, shitake mushroom and fried taufoo-pok. The fried shallots are actually caramellized and used to garnish the dish once its done. The sauce for this dish should be plentiful and the sauce is made up primarily of light soya-sauce, some thick soya-sauce for colour and a dash of oyster sauce for taste. I'm not sure if my mom puts sugar, but I do whenever I cook this on my own. Anyway, this is just a couple of the comfort foods that my family loves. I hope that I could make good "achar" one day. I still can't master the blanching of the vegetables in the vinegar-flavoured water. However, I did take my "Granny's Mixed Vegetables" dish with me when I was studying abroad. All this talk about food is making me hungry!! January 03 Christmas Barbie (25/12/2005)This is probably a very late post for Christmas... (^_^)
Anyway, a couple of weeks back, we held a nice barbie (BBQ) for extended members of the Tan clan and we had quite a lot of spread.
Enough said, here are some nice pics of food!!!! **slurp!!**
I spent a lot of time preparing the salad as there was a lot to wash & cut before presenting it. Anyway, I found a really nice recipe for a real good salad dressing... ;) Ingredients
Method
Tip: DO NOT POUR OVER SALAD until you are ready to eat. Best to dress the salad when serving.
Besides the sausages & chicken wings, we had lamb chops (rubbed in with salt & pepper) and also grilled stingray (ikan pari). Dad had to pay 60sen for the banana leaf. November 23 Mmmmm... Burnt rice....This should be an interesting post... Can you burn rice in a microwave? The answer is... YES!! Technically, what makes a fire? If you recall your fire triangle, Air (Oxygen) /*\ Fuel --- Heat Source You'll know that these are the elements you'll need to make a fire, oxygen, fuel & heat. So, from there, we learn a few things,
This happened a few hours ago when my dad was supposed to reheat some food for himself. Mom and I had ate earlier (had yummy roti paratha from Tesco) and we had no problems reheating the cold rice left over from dinner the night before. At first, we didn't know that the rice got burnt. Dad put his food in the microwave and left the kitchen to do something else. He got distracted and I was not paying attention, I was veging out in front of the telly. We heard a small "boom". It sounded like something fell and we thought it might have been a cat trying to get in through the kitchen window. (Yes... the cats have tried but failed because of Snoopy) Anyway, my dad realized that there was some smoke. (Hmmm... the smoke detector didn't go out... must have run out of batteries - BTW, smoke detectors are not mandatory in M'sia. We got a few from my uncle in Aust.) At first, we thought it could have been an electrical burn cause it smelt like it... But then, I realized that the circuit breakers were not tripped and it was safe. We opened the microwave and ... smoke came out! (what did you expect? Money??) Anyway, poor Dad had to spend some time cleaning up the microwave while I went to clear the room and house of the smokey smell. Now, the area near the study room and kitchen smells like a disco lounge with smoke all over. Dad tried to put some scented oil to clear it so that Mom wouldn't notice. Oh yea.. My mom wasn't around during the whole incident. She would have given my Dad a tongue lashing. Hehe.. The funny part was.. When I asked my Dad if he set the microwave wrong, he denied it. He said that he used the "Bread" button, which only gives a 15second cooking time. It turns out that he probably put in 10mins instead of 1.... Geez.... Microwaving just got a whole lot more dangerous at home........ |
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We should have "borrowed" some from the neighbours down the road... Hehe..|
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