Just For Fun 2

Saw this at Daily Affair and decided to play along. What Your Pizza Reveals

People may tell you that you have a small appetite... but you aren't under eating. You just aren't a pig. You are a very picky pizza eater. Not any pizza will do. You fit in best in the Northeast part of the US. Your taste in food tends to favor what's rich and comforting. You prefer food that will definitely satisfy you. You are generous, outgoing, and considerate with your choices. You are cultured and intellectual. You should consider traveling to Vienna. The stereotype that best fits you is upper class preppy. You don't anything too ordinary or vulgar.

What Does Your Pizza Say About You?

Whole Grain Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

I was first introduced to Aglio e Olio by Rainbows. Aglio means garlic and Olio means oil in Italian and she said this is one easy pasta to prepare. Indeed she was right, and any easy recipe I wanted to try. And I was introduced to whole grain pasta by watching Racheal Ray. Anything whole wheat and whole grain is to my liking because it speaks an healthier choice. So, I purposely searched out whole grain pasta to try, if it's good then next time I will just stick to whole grain pasta, unless the other one is on-sales for a price that I couldn't refuse. I bought some beautiful grape tomatoes the other day and I thought why not I just added some to it. Since I was not used to eating plain pasta, I took out some sea scallops and cut it into half.

Verdict: I really like the whole grain pasta. It was not hard like what I have read. It's as al dente as the white pasta. And it makes me feel healthier by eating it. As for the aglio e olio, I found it kind of plain, needed an extra dose of salt to bring out the flavor. Being a true Asian, I even added some sesame oil! :P Here's my version:

Ingredients:

1 small box of whole grain spaghetti

8 sea scallops, half and seasoned with lemon pepper seasoning

Extra-virgin olive oil

Lots of chopped garlic (~5 cloves)

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup grape tomatoes, half

Salt and black pepper to taste

Korean Sesame oil

Method:

1. Cooked spaghetti per package instruction. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat a saute pan with some EVOO and pan-fry the scallops until cooked. Dish out and set aside.

3. Heat EVOO and add in garlic. Fry until golden and add in the crushed red pepper and grape tomatoes. Mixed well and turned off the heat. Add in the spaghetti & scallops (along with the juice). Season to taste with salt, black pepper and a drizzle of sesame oil.

I submitting this post to Presto Pasta Nights for this week.

Modern or Traditional

Are your man modern or traditional? I got to say I have a traditional husband that does not want to wear a wedding ring. He said this is not his thing and wearing a ring just feel weird on his finger. So, he never gotten a wedding band from me. I found that a lot of Asian men don't wear their wedding bands too, so it is not just my hubby okay. And then I noticed the newer generation of men, like my brother who does and do love to wear wedding band. He said he and his wife got the same design and he proudly wears it to show everyone that he is married. Men's wedding bands are very common in the United States. I think all married Caucasian men will wear the rings on their fingers to signify that they were already taken. Anyway, if you are looking for a wedding band for your man, you should pick a more hardy and strong ring like those made with tungsten-carbide, titanium and stainless steel to compliment his active lifestyle. If you are looking for something more affordable and inexpensive and yet classy and well made, a stainless steel wedding band would be your best choice. A tungsten ring however come with a lifetime guarantee and it is impossible to scratch or ding. Also, it can always be polished back to the original luster and shine and is the strongest man's ring ever to be hand made. So, whatever metal you fancy for your husband, you can buy it at the price range you budget.

Just for Fun!

Saw this at Rainbows's blog and decided to play along! Hehehe.... Just trying to kill my curiosity. Here's the direct link if you want to play too. :D

Your Blogging Type is Confident and Insightful

You've got a ton of brain power, and you leverage it into brilliant blog. Both creative and logical, you come up with amazing ideas and insights. A total perfectionist, you find yourself revising and rewriting posts a lot of the time. You blog for yourself - and you don't care how popular (or unpopular) your blog is!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

Short Clip of My Girls Eating

Sharing a clip of them eating at Texas Roadhouse recently. Edda was cleaning the plate of onion blossom (our appertizer) and Evy was enjoying her favorite ceaser salad. Hubby ordered his usual full rack of BBQ ribs and I decided to try something different and ordered the pork chops. The pork chops was a disappointment, hard and dry (overcooked for sure). I made better pork chop than them and I would never order it again.



This embeded version is not as clear. Not the camcorder fault.

Black Pepper Chicken

The Chinese restaurant buffet here that we frequent served a very delicious black pepper chicken. We just discovered it recently and both my hubby and I loved it very much. It was on the sweet side and the marinade and flavor just perfect. Since I was trying to think of something different to cook with the chicken breast that I took out, I remembered this dish. Also remembered that I had some black pepper premix in my fridge, which resulted in my version of black pepper chicken. Got to say theirs still tasted better, but this was not far behind. :P The sauce was very good with rice.

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts, sliced
Celery, about 3/4 cup - 1 cup
1 small carrot, sliced
1/2 small red onion
Black Pepper powder premix (or substitute w/ white pepper, black pepper & chicken stock granules)
Dark soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar

Method:

Heat oil in a wok. When heated, fry the chicken until cooked. Add in all the veggies, stir fry to cook the veggies. Add in a little water and all the seasonings. Fry until mixed well and serve.

Luxury Car

I basically grew up sitting in a Mercedes-benz. My dad used to work for a company that provided Mercedes as a company car to its managers. Even after my dad changed his job, he also bought a Mercedes for himself. When I think of Mercedes-benz, upscale, luxury, quality, safety and quiet drive came into my mind. I guess that was enough reasons for people to buy Mercedes-Bends. Especially people in Asia or Malaysia, we just adore this brand. Even after we came over here, a lot of Asian still looking for Mercedes to buy. I think it signified a certain level of status when we drive in a Mercedes-benz (we called it benzy in M'sia). It speaks high class, stylist and wealth. Maybe not so much wealth in the United States, but certainly wealth in Asian countries. If I ever visit Washington DC, I definitely need to check out the new Mercedes DC at the American Service Center Mercedes in Arlington, VA. They have an incredible inventory of the latest models and wide selections of different classes of Mercedes-benz under it's roof. Any Mercedes-benz lover would love to check out the latest cool features and designs and even test drive some of them. I bet my hubby would love to test run one or two Mercedes-benz car(s) himself. ;o)

Stir-fry Kailan

Instead of the usual oyster sauce Kailan, I loved to cook my Kailan this way. We liked to order Kailan cooked in garlic when we eat out in an authentic Chinese restaurant. But at home, I like to add ginger slices into mine. This is one of my older home cook recipes. Have been cooking this for years and still doing so.

Ingredients:

Few slices of gingers
2 cloves of garlics, chopped
Kailan
Salt & soy sauce to taste
Some water
1/2 tsp. chicken stock granules
Cornstarch mixture

Method:

Heat oil in a wok. When heated, add in the ginger slices, fry until fragrant, add in the garlics. Then, add in the veggie/ Kailan. Fry until Kailan is a bit cooked, then add in the salt. A little water and chicken stock granules. Fry to mix well and lastly thicken it with the cornstarch mixture. Serve hot.

Whole Wheat Carrot Muffins

I wanted to create a healthier version of muffins. What makes a normal muffins healthier? I was playing with the combination in my head. One that has carrots, walnuts and raisins, without any butter, with a little heart healthy canola oil and makes with whole wheat flour! Sounds great right? I didn't want to experiment with 100% whole wheat flour because I was afraid that the muffins would be dense and I like my muffins soft. So, I used a combination of whole wheat flour and cake flour. I love it, the whole wheat carrot muffins turned out great, soft and delicious. What's best is it's less guilty!


Sharing with you my recipe:

Ingredients:

(A)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup cake flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar

(B)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded carrot (about 2 small carrots)
1/4 cup canola oil

(C)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins (coated with a little flour)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400'F. Lined the muffin pan with paper cups.

2. Add (A) in a big bowl. Whisk to combined. Make a hole in the middle and add (B), mix until blended. Add (C) and stir with a spatula until just combined. Scoop the batter into the muffin pan.

3. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

~Yield 18 muffins

Sleeping in Their Room

Like most breastfeed mommies here, I found having my girl sleeping with us a convenient. My girl's room was down the hall and I was too lazy to wake up several times a night to walk to her room. I needed my sleep and my sanity. Now, she is down to once feeding a night and I wanted to start transitioning her and her sister into their own room. Edda's crib can be converted into a toddler bed and later a full size bed. So, I am thinking of converting her crib into a toddler bed and move it into her sister's room. However, finding a toddler bedding is not an easy task. It is not easily available in the super stores but luckily I found this website for kids bedding on the web. Not only it has the toddler bedding but also the twin bedding set. It is made by JoJo Designs, 100% cotton and each piece has to pass the highest quality control. I am so excited because now I can buy a matching bedding set for both Evy and Edda. This website also has the matching accessories to decorate the room such as table lamps, window valance and art pieces for the wall. Definitely a one stop shopping for a complete room makeover. Nice!

Tagged: Six Words Memoir

I've been tagged by Ling's Passion to do this meme. So here my Six Word Memoir.........

Eat Well*Stay Healthy*Live Happy

1. Write your own six-word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog (and include a visual illustration if you’d like).
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post.
4. Tag five more blogs with links.
5. Remember to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

I’m tagging the followings to participate in this meme:

Soy and Pepper
Daily Affairs
Daphne- More than Words
Florence's Do What I Like
Rainbows

How to Make Your Shrimps Curl

D from Daily Affairs asked me to create a post on how I made my beautiful shrimps. Actually it is very easy, it's just some curl shrimps. First I deveined the shrimps, peel off the shells and then I just slit it into half lengthwise. When you stir-fry the shrimps, it will curl up automatically. Easy right? D, now you have it! :) However, some will curl this way, but some might not oh.

Easy & Delicious Stir-fried Tofu

I like healthy food. Healthy food to me is that the dish has to be colorful, with lean skinless chicken breasts, fish or tofu. I also cook with lots of fresh garlic, ginger, scallion, shallot or onion. The above dish is healthy to me because it has celery, carrot, straw mushroom and tofu. It's a vegetarian dish actually. This dish is so easy to cook with only two seasonings and yet the taste is so divine. Tigerfish cooked a similar version recently too.



Ingredients:

7oz soft tofu, cut into cubes
1/2 can of straw mushrooms, drained
1 medium carrot, sliced
2 sticks of celery, cut
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup of water
2 Tbsp. of cooking oil

Seasonings:
2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
2 Tbsp. Japanese white rice wine

Method:

1. Heat the wok with oil. Add in garlic, fry until golden. Add in celery and carrot. Stir-fry until almost cooked. Add in the straw mushrooms. Stir-fry well and add in the seasonings and water.

2. Lastly add the cubes tofu, fry until heated through and mixed well with the sauce and veggies. Serve hot.

Child Tracking Device

What is a Global Positioning System (GPS)? "GPS is a system of satellites which allows you to pinpoint the location of an individual wearing a watch or carrying a cell phone that has been enabled for tracking and can be monitored through a PC or personal tracking device" quoted BrickHouse. We have not heard about this years ago, mainly because it was designed for used in government. And these days, we have GPS in our cars so that we won't get lost. We have portable GPS so that we can bring it along when we travel, even to other countries. We can used the satellite to pinpoint the location of our house and view it from a PC. Even as far as a child GPS to track the location of our child. The idea of a child GPS is to provide parents with a piece of mind so that you would know the whereabouts of your child if he/she got lost in a crowded area, not home from school on time, whether they are really in their friend's house or park as they said. But you would never know whether the device is on them as you think it would, he might leave his bag at his friend's house and go out, leaving you thinking he is studying with his friend whereas they have been hanging out at the Mall. You have no control as to whether the device got stolen, dropped by the child or broken. It is just not as reliable as one thinks. On the other hand, it would be a sigh of relieve for parents to be able to track the location of your child if he gets lost in the crowd by wandering away (children do this all the times because of curiosity). Parents just need to weight the pros and cons before investing in one.

Tagged!

I was tagged by My Baking Diary. I got this book when pregnant with Edda, ages ago. :P

This is the deal:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

"In these cases, simply excuse yourself and go to another area to nurse, or express your breastmilk ahead of time and feed it to your baby in a bottle when you need to after the pressing and storing breastmilk. You may wonder how you will adjust to working while continuing to breastfeed. You may be separated from your baby for longer periods, requiring you to provide one or more bottles of breastmilk to your infant's caregiver to use in your absence."

Tag 5 persons :

Mochachocolata-Rita
Yochana's Cake Delight
The Art and Science of Food
Retno's Kedai Hamburg, Germany
Ling's Passion

What a Crazy Weather!

When people said Colorado has crazy weather, it is! We were enjoying a record high of 80"F the day before and the next day "Boom", we got snow shower! In Sane! Evy wanted to go out and play so I let her and Edda was inside with a sour face looking at her sister playing outside (by the sliding door). Then, she brought me her shoes and of course letting me know that she wanted to go out as well. Her sour face looked so pitiful so suited her up and put her outside with her sister.

I only let them played on the deck so that I could keep an eye on them.

Edda looking at me. I asked her, "Cold or not, want to come inside or not?" Raised her hand and said, "No", at least that's what I think she was saying. LOL!

Evy was happily playing with her snow shover.

Edda pointing at the snow falling and tasting some which fell on her face. She surely enjoyed it, so cold also didn't want to come in until her sister came in then she got no choice but to come inside.

What's the next day looks like! Inches of accumulation and every where was covered with snow. And it's SPRING here!!

Rockie Mountain. Couldn't capture the famous Pike Peak, it was hidden in the cloud behind the mountain.

Strawberry Muffins

How pretty is that color isn't it? I loved it! Strawberry is pretty cheap these days. I just bought 4lb. of strawberries for $4.99, pretty cheap right? Furthermore, it's really sweet and fragrant. I'm not someone who likes sour fruit like strawberry, kiwi, orange, etc. I prefer my fruit sweet. So, I'm really glad that this batch of strawberries are sweet. I decided to experiment again and made this strawberries muffins using this recipe from allrecipes.com but with slight modification.



I'm really low on baking powder, only about 1 tsp. left so I won't be able to follow the recipe. I used 2 cup of self-raising flour and omitted the baking powder. Added 1 tsp. of strawberry extract and 1 1/2 cup of chopped strawberries. Save some of the strawberries to put on top of the muffins before baking. The muffins turned out to be soft, moist, not very sweet and nice with slight strawberry fragrant. These muffins are sure an healthier alternative to cupcakes as no butter was used and only a little oil, one egg were used in making this. Good for my breakfast and tea time snack! Furthermore, my hubby loved it too!

For easy reference, I used: (Yield about 16-18 muffins)

(A)
2 cup self-raising flour
3/4 cup sugar

(B)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. imitation strawberry extract
1 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup diced strawberries

(C)
1/2 cup diced strawberries to sprinkle on top

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400'F. Lined the muffin pan with paper cups.

2. Add (A) in a big bowl. Whisk to combined. Make a hole in the middle and add (B). Stir with a spatula until just combined. Scoop batter into the muffin pan and sprinkle the top with some diced strawberries.

3. Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until golden.

I am also submitting my first photo to SnackShots # 3 : Muffin. My first entry and wish me luck! :)

Western Wears

Are you interested in Rodeo? There is the 68th annual Pike Peak or Bust Rodeo Days, "Break from the Herd" at the Norris-Penrose Events Center Arena on July 9-12. It is one of the nation premier rodeo competition sanctioned by the Professional Cowboys Rodeo Association and it is right here at Colorado Springs. I personally find it quite interesting to watch like the tie-down roping and bull riding. Not forgetting those sexy cowboys with the cowboys hats, very cool looking. It is one Summer event that you can bring your family to and frankly quite entertaining. If you are looking for ladies western wears, ladies western shirts to wear for such an event, I would recommend AJ's outfitters. They have the latest western wear fashion for ladies and new stock is arriving daily. They also design embroidered western shirts and jackets in house and do personalization. So, you can have your own custom made western shirt if you want, like your favorite design and with the name of your favorite horse embroidered on your shirt. How cool is that? I find the short sleeve women shirts very nice and modern. If you love horses and you love the look of western wear, this is the right place for you.

Tag: Life is Full of Gratitude

Sweet Jasmine from Rainbow passed me this tag. Everyone has something to be grateful for including me.

I'm grateful for my hubby who loves me and able to provide for me.
I'm grateful for my two beautiful daughters who added color into our lives.
I'm grateful for my friends who are there for me when I need them.
I'm grateful for good health.
I'm grateful that my parents and parent in-laws are in good health.
I'm grateful that there is a beautiful day waiting for me whenever I wake up. Life is beautiful.

~Start Copy~

In order to be able to achieve and maintain happiness we need to, actively, be able to do two things: Complain and then let go (Dump the baggage, the roadblocks to happiness.) Express Gratitude (The open expression of gratitude promotes happiness.) After all everyone has something to be grateful for and/or something to complain about. If you would like to share, please follow the appropriate link and do so: “Are You Grateful?”, “Complain Complain Complain.”

Add your name to the current List of Contributors:

Contributors to "Are You Grateful?" & "Complain Complain Complain" are: 1-Attitude, the Ultimate Power 2-Max 3-DianaCA's Metamorphoses 4-Mental Poo 5-My Thoughts 6-Baba Doodlius 7-Wake Up America 8-Life is a Roller Coaster 9-Life and Me 10-pinay mommy's love blog 11-My Happiness Haven 12-And Life Goes On for a Filipino Mom 13-Blessed Sanctuary 14-Expressions And Thoughts 15-Memories by Jenn 16-Reminiscence of My Adventures 17-In the Life of Mne 18-Juliana's Lair 19-Pinay Wahm 20-Lucid Creativity 21-Winged Words 22-Irresistible Fascinations 23-A Little Time 24-See Me For What You Will 25-Greatest Reviews 26-ETC ATBP 27-Gandacious 28-We Are Family 29-Journey to this thing called LIFE 30-www.rajeshrana.net 31-www.rajeshrana.com 32-BaReFooTeD Me 33-Uncomplicated 34-Points of View 35-Pride & Prejudice 36-Colorful World 37-Nora's Notes 38-A Daily Walk With Bill & Gina 39-Strange but True 40-Everything Under The Sun ( Beth Rebokon ) 41-Kaleidoscope 42-Fil-Oz Blog 43-By Osc@r Luiz 44-Comedy Plus 45-Blogging by Sandee 46-Soul Meets World 47-Mae's Memoirs 48-Beyond the Rave Reality 49-Amori, poesie, arte, chat by Hanna 50-Attached at the Hip 51-Carver's Sight or is that Site? 52-Empress Reviews 53-Simple Pleasures In My Heart 54-Lourdes' mia 55-A Grateful Heart 56-Majorsleepyhead 57-Scrappy n Happy in Ohio 58-CHOC MINT GIRL 59-Extraordinary Things 60-ZOOROPAZOO 61-BeNolSatuEm 62-As The World Turns 63-Your Caring Angels 64-Life Is Wonderful To Know Everyday 65-Sugar Magnolias 66-Little Peanut 67-Creative In Me 68-Me and Mine 69-Pea in a Pod 70-the diary of the Pink & Brown Wedding 71-good thoughts, good trades, good life 72-My Blog - all things me 73-Rainbows 74-Little Corner of Mine 75-Me, Myself and I 76-My Planet Purple 77-Amel's Realm 78-A Handful of Surprises 79-A Detour 80-Something Purple 81-Vanity Kit 82-Are You Grateful? 83-A Simple Life 84-BlogTips.Com 85-Balitang Kalye 86-Mariuca 87- Emila Yusof 88-A Total Blog 89-My Life in this Wonderful World 90-MommyAllehs 91-Things That Suck 92-A Mother's Stuff 93-Princess Vien 94-My Inner Thoughts Revealed 95-Roxiticus Desperate Housewives 96-Apples Of The Eyes 97-Nita's Random Thoughts 98-Nita's Corner 99-Thomas Digital Services 100-A Mother's Thoughts101-Meltwater. Torrents. Meanderings. Delta 102-My Perfect Escape 103-Vanidosa. Marie 104-Confessions of a Supermodel Wannabe 105-Lynda's Loft
~End Copy~

I'm passing this tag to:
Daphne- More than Words
Baking Fiends Unite!
Edith's Precious Moments
Ling's Passion
Beachlover's Kitchen
SueSue - Cooking Momster
My Kitchen Snippets

Pork Chop Dinner

I made some pork chops because I was too lazy to pre-slice the pork for stir-fry. So, I decided to make a western pork chops dinner with the asparagus that I had in the fridge. This was such an easy dinner to prepare because all I did is to marinate the pork chops overnight with my special sauce. The next day I just seared the pork chops in some olive oil on both side and then let it finished cooking in the oven. Sprinkled a little olive oil, some salt and peppers on my asparagus and in the preheated 450'F oven for 15 minutes. I also opened a can of Pillsbury garlic crescent rolls (not in picture) and baked it for 10 minutes and I had myself a complete dinner.

At the end of the dinner, hubby complained not full!! LOL! Actually when he first saw this, he asked, "Where is the rice?" I said, " What rice? No rice, got crescent rolls already, this is a western meal." :P

What surprised me is Evy actually loves pork chop. She asked me yesterday, can you cook this bread that eat with meat and veggie one? I was like what the heck was she talking about? At first I thought she meant roti canai with Jap. curry but she knows the words roti canai and curry so it must be other thing and then I remembered this. True enough, she said she wants to eat pork chop.

Evy Craft and More

She did this all by herself. She found this craft project (I have no idea where) online, printed out the paper, cut it herself, color it, glued the parts together and put stickers at the back so that it will stick to her face. After she finished, she came to me with this elephant mask (according to her) stick to her face. I got a shock actually because she did all these by herself!! I asked her to stick it on her bedroom door to remember her first craft and praised her for a job well done. I do have a creative daughter because she know to use the tape to enable the mask to stick on her face. So little know how to think and solve problem already.


Her drawing and writing.


She presented her daddy with this on Jan, 2008 which her daddy kept on his desk.


She gave me this on Feb 14, 2008 which I put on my desk. I realized that my daughter writes very well at her age. So clear that you really know what she wrote.


Evy showing off some of her works. I will update with some recent drawings of her because it's getting very good, so good that it surprised both her daddy and me, just like she surprised me with the elephant mask.

One way I know that Evy is more advance is on a recent trip to a Toy R Us where they have a booth and gave out papers and crayons for little ones to draw, Evy drew a beautiful flower and color it so prettily while the other kids only knew how to draw lines! Some kids were bigger than her and they drew lines and rubbish. Her daddy had to ask me,"Did Evy draw this?" I said, "Of course, who else." She surprised her daddy then and there. He couldn't stop praising her and her piece of art.

Anniversary Gift

My ten years anniversary is approaching and now it is the best time to send out hint to my hubby to let him know what I would love to have as an anniversary gift. Okay, my Asian husband is not like the Angmoh (Western) husband who will shower you with jewelry from time to time. My husband needs reminder and hint and more hint before I will see result. I am always a diamond girl at heart. Anything diamond and sparkle is to my fancy. I don't know, I think it is the advertisement and slogan that did it because whenever I think of diamond, this came into my head: "Diamond is a girl best friend" and I couldn't stop singing that slogan!! See, that's what a good and powerful slogan did to a consumer, it will forever engrave in your head and won't let you forget it. Ten years anniversary is special and for a special day like this I want my best friend, the one that sparkles and make me smile whenever I look at it. I can't expect anything less on this special day, a nice dinner just won't do it, I need something sparkle to remind me. So, arm with the website which offers the highest quality and lowest prices on best Diamonds, I need to start hinting and sending him the link. If he is smart, he should know what to do! ;o)

Orange Cream Scones

I wanted to try a different cream scones recipe instead of my usual Almond cream scones. With lots of oranges in the refrigerator at this moment, orange cream scones sounded like an excellent idea. I have a soft spot for orange cakes, muffins, cookies or any dessert that has a little orange in it. I don't know, the extra citrusy taste just kick it up a notch I guess. In 20 minutes, I have a hot from the oven cream scones waiting for me to savor with my morning cup of coffee.



I adapted this recipe from my Almond cream scones.

Ingredients:

(A)
1 cup plain flour
1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/8 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup of mixed raisins & dried pineapple chunks
Zest of one orange
1 tsp. orange essence

(B)
1/2 cup + 1/8 cup heavy cream

Glaze:
Heavy cream
Sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 425'F. Add (A) in a bowl. Mix with a spatula til combined.

2. Add (B) and mix and knead to form a dough. Do not over knead it, just bring it together and form a dough. Flatten the dough into a round shape and cut into eight pieces.

3. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and glaze with cream and sprinkle some sugar on top. Bake for 11-12 minutes.

Penalized by Google!! :(

Ahhhh....I wanted to shout, I wanted to pull my hairs!!! WHY? Why this happen? I woke up yesterday to discover that my PR 3 blog got decreased to a PR 0. I read about this would happen in the forum and now I get to experience it myself. Google stripped my rating because somehow, they knew I did some review posts. I don't know why Google doesn't allow Bloggers to do paid post. Why they don't want us to make a little side money, in my case it's very little okay, like pitifully little even with my PR 3 rating. And now I got a ZERO and with that I don't think I will get any opps. to write in the future. And that's what Google want! I am so pissed about all this as advertisers/sponsors look at PR to give out opps and Google take away PR from those that did paid post. Please share with me how you still keep your PR when you also do some paid posts? Now, not sure when will I get my PR back, months later, never? Luckily, I also read that there are Tool Bar PR and the real PR that Google keeps (secret one for themselves only), so even with my PR 0, it won't affect the search engine result for my blog as well as traffic. But the majority of the advertisers only look at TBPR to give out opps and they don't care that your PR got stripped because you were working for them in the first place. I don't know why Google penalized me, a stay at home wife who wants to make a little extra allowance? :(

I just started this, went into this without knowing much and now I got slapped left and right! Geezzzzz.... Please share your experience and let me know how you fix this problem. Thanks!

Seafood Pesto Spaghetti

I was left with some cilantro pesto and I was trying to think of a different way to use it instead of making my usual pesto pasta. After much thought, I still couldn't come out with a better way to use it except to pan-fry some chicken breast cutlets and spread the pesto on top before serving. If I prepare it this way, then I would have to prepare at least two sides to go with my pesto chicken cutlets and make it an American dinner. Mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus sounded like a great side dishes. BUT, more work for me! So, ended out making this seafood spaghetti instead. All in one as my hubby preferred this better than the other version. Yeah, it's boring but he loved it! By the way, mine sharing what other way you used your pesto?



I added the juice from pan-frying the scallops and shrimps when mixing the spaghetti. You can also sprinkled a little crushed red pepper flakes before serving. Mmm...mmm... look at the bouncy shrimps and juicy sea scallops, who wouldn't want a bite?

My picky eater Evy who refused to try the chicken version was tempted to take a bite and hooked. She said, "Mmmm...hen hao zhi" and asked me to serve her a plate and cleaned the plate! :o)

Method:
Heat a saute pan with some olive oil. Fry the shrimps and sea scallops until cooked. Dish out and set aside. Heat the pan with more olive oil, stir-fry the broccoli and carrot until soften, add in the cooked spaghetti/pasta, shrimps and sea scallops, cilantro pesto and mix and blend well together, turn off the heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper if needed.



This is my first time submitting my pasta entry to Presto Pasta Nights hosted by Once Upon a Feast. Do visit there to feast your eyes on the variety and interesting pastas that bloggers whipped up.

Honeymoon in Paris

My brother is getting married. We finally breathe a sigh of relieve because we thought he would never find the one and settle down. Not that he is not popular but he is very picky. Hahaha... He came to visit us recently during Chinese New Year because his company sent him to Denver for training. I was so happy to see him again and of course I would have to ask him about his wedding plan, his future wife and of course his honeymoon. He told me they still haven't plan on where to have their honeymoon yet. So, I suggested to him why not going to Paris, the city of lovers and the choice for many honeymooners. The romantic air surrounding the city, the Eiffel tower, the city of lights with its rich culture and an interesting history would be the perfect choice. I told him booking tours in advance would be great so that they will have a hassle free honeymoon vacation when they arrive in Paris. With the Internet these days, he can pick the tours in Paris that he and his fiancee like and book and pay for the tours online. A complete Paris experience with guided tour and special privilege just under his finger tips. Great huh?

Steamed Banana Cupcakes

I have two bananas in the freezer waiting for me to use it and then I came across this recipe while browsing through tastespotting.com. Hers looked really good, so soft and fluffy that I just need to give this a try. What can I say, this steamed banana cupcake is truly delicious! It's just like what she said, sooooooo good!



I added 1/4 tsp. banana essence into mine as American banana is not as fragrant as the one sold in Malaysia. We finished the rest of the banana cupcakes the next day and they were still soft and fluffy. Really good and you all should try it.

My Adapted recipe below:

Ingredients:

(A)

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

(B)

1 1/8 cup self raising flour

1/8 tsp. baking soda

(C)

2 bananas, mashed

1/4 tsp. banana essence

(D)

1/4 cup + 1/8 cup canola oil ( or vegetable oil)

Method:

1. Sieve B in a bowl, set aside.

2. Beat A until thick, fluffy and foamy.

3. Add C into A mixture. Stir in B alternatively with D. Scoop into a paper lined silicon cupcakes until 3/4 full.

4. Steam in a steamer for 15 minutes.

Cilantro Pesto Spaghetti

Clear my fridge time! I need to clear my cilantro which I bought two weeks ago. The best way I know how is to make pesto out of it. I have been making cilantro pesto instead of basil pesto for years. Reason is very simple, I always buy cilantro and hardly ever buy basil. My cilantro pesto consisted of cilantro, garlic, walnut, olive oil and season to taste with salt, black pepper and sugar. We love it!

I stir-fried some sliced fresh button mushroom in olive oil until soften. Added carrots and the leftover chicken breast meats from KFC and stir in the spaghetti and toasted well with my pesto and dinner was ready.

Miso Sesame Seeds Baked Fish

I love quick and easy to prepare dish. Anything to cut down my preparation and cooking time is my best friend. And once I learned that I could use my oven to bake or steam fish, it was like striking gold to me. Because finally I found the healthier, quick and easy alternative.

I love to experiment with different toppings for my bake fish. After I read from Daphne and EMWK blogs that they used Miso in their baked fish, I was really interested to try it out (still waiting for them to post their version though! ;o)). My first attempt was a failure because I underestimated how salty Miso paste was and we ended out scraping all the Miso paste away before we ate the fish. The above picture was my successful second attempt. :o) Here sharing with you my recipe so that you won't make the same mistake I made earlier, especially for those who never try it before.

Ingredients:

3 Tilapia fish fillets

1 Tbsp. Miso paste

1 Tbsp. hot/warm water

1 tsp. sesame oil

Sprinkle of black and white sesame seeds

Canola oil spray

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 450'F.

2. Cover your baking pan with foil and place the fish fillets on top.

3. In a bowl, soften the miso paste with warm water by stirring with a spoon. Add sesame oil and mix well. Take some of this paste and spread all over the top of each of the fish fillets. Then, sprinkle the top of the fish fillets with black and white sesame seeds. Lastly, spray the fish fillets with some canola oil.

4. Place in the oven uncovered and bake for 10 mins. Serve hot.

NOTE: If you use other thicker fish fillets, remember to adjust the baking time.

See What I found!

While surfing through the net recently, I found an India Blog, a site about India, recipes and Indians living in the west. I would love to share this site with my Indian friends here as well as my Indian readers. This site is written in English, German and French languagues.

Gula Melaka Panna Cotta

Panna Cotta is an Italian dessert literary means "cooked cream". The mixture of milk, cream, sugar and gelatin made this dessert. V at EMWK first introduced me to this dessert and I totally loved it. She made her blueberries version. YUM!

When I saw this recipe posted by Yani, I just had to try it. I love Gula Melaka (palm sugar from Malaysia) and I could really taste how incredible this dessert will be in my mind. So, with the leftover heavy cream that I had, I started to make this easy dessert.

This is really divine but I found it to be on the creamy side. So, I would add 1 cup of milk as opposed to 1/2 cup of milk as she suggested next time. I put mine in the refrigerator to set (about 3 hours) instead of in the freezer for one hour. Sinful and delicious! My hubby and both my girls loved it too!

Asparagus Cooked in Two Ways

I think it's Asparagus Season here as it's on sales right and left at the grocery stores. So, I grabbed some. I always bought vegetable and fruit that were on sales for that week. And each week I would have something different. I prepared some marinated chicken breast slices, some carrots and chopped garlic and I was ready to cook dinner.


Cooked in spicy black bean sauce. This is for the parents of course.


Cooked in oyster sauce and added an egg. This is for the kids. Didn't plan to add an egg but I added too much oil, so why not? And it turned out so delicious and went so well with everything. So, sharing the recipe here with you.

Ingredient:

Asparagus, half bundle, about 2 cups, cut like the above
Sliced 1/2 chicken breast (marinated with soy sauce, sweet soy sauce & cornstarch)
1 small carrot, sliced
1 large egg
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Canola oil
Oyster sauce, about 2 Tbsp.

Method:

1. Heat wok with oil. When hot, add in the garlic, fry til slightly golden, add chicken slices. Stir-fry til the chicken is cooked. Add asparagus and carrot. Fry til the asparagus is almost cooked.

2. Season with oyster sauce, mix well. Break in an egg, break the yolk and spread around the veggie. Fry til the egg is cooked. Serve hot.

Strawberry Chiffon Cake - Part 2

Simple decoration as Evy requested, strawberry and sprinkles. My strawberry chiffon cake recipe can be viewed here.


Yummilicious!! Oh yeah, I didn't do a party for her this year, just made her a cake and took her out for lunch at her favorite locale.

You all really need to try this cake, it turned out to be so delectable, my hubby just couldn't stop at a slice! This is also the only cake thus far that he ate till the last slice. Next time I would make three layers so that I could have more strawberries bites. Simply YUMMY!! The chiffon cake is soft and light and the whipped cream is a perfect match with strawberry, I just love this cake! Can you tell how I adore this cake? :P

My Whipped Cream Frosting Recipe:
1 1/2 cup whipped cream
1/4 cup icing sugar
~Beat until soft peak is formed.

For middle layering:
Take some of the whipped cream and mixed in with some chopped strawberries.

Note:
The amount of whipped cream just enough to cover the cake, not enough for fancy decoration on top of the cake. You need to use 2 cups of whipped cream for extra decoration.

Check out my other Strawberry Chiffon Cake recipe.

We Need a Camcorder

As some of you are probably know, we are flying back to Malaysia in few weeks time. I am really excited about this because it will be the first time we bring Edda home to see her grandparents and relatives. An added bonus is we are also going back to attend my brother's wedding. It will be the first time in years that I attend a wedding banquet again, so I am really looking forward to it. With the trip planned, my hubby wants to buy a smaller camcorder with the latest HDD technology. So that we can bring it back to record the memories that we are going to share in Malaysia. As I was doing the research for him, I found this shopping comparison website that features the sellers rating, pricing as well as products rating. Not only this website has Electronics and Computers but also Home & Garden, Clothes, Kids & Toys just to list a few. We get to compare prices with different sellers at one stop, and that's what I called one stop shopping. I quickly e-mailed this website info. to my husband and hope that he will find this website as useful for me as to him.

Strawberry Chiffon Cake

What a mommy does when her daughter requested a strawberry cake as her birthday cake? Luckily she didn't ask for a Dora cake. :P I know I want either a sponge or chiffon cake as a base instead of butter cake. So, I picked chiffon cake to experiment since I haven't made any chiffon cake for ages. I actually did a lot of "bo bo" when making this chiffon cake. When blending in the egg whites with the yolk batter, I realized that the color was not red. So I added some red coloring while blending in the egg whites mixture. Really scary! And when I done mixing and started pouring into a pan, I realized I got the wrong pan. I was pouring the batter into a bundt pan instead of a tube pan. So, I had to take out my tube pan and pour the one from the bundt pan into the tube pan and added in the rest of the batter. I was actually praying that my chiffon cake won't fail me at this point because I was certain I was kinda messed out.

Luckily after so many scary moments, my chiffon cake was a success! I cut the cake into half to add in the filling later. This cake actually turned out so yummy! :) Stay tuned for part 2 for the complete assembly. ;)

My Strawberry Chiffon Cake Recipe (I adapted from my Pandan Chiffon Cake):

(A)
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar

(B)
1/2 cup canola oil
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup strawberries puree (Use a blender and puree 5-6 strawberries in 1 cup of water and sieved)
1 tsp. imitation strawberry extract
Few drops of red coloring

(C)
6 egg whites
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350'F.

2. Sift (A) in a big bowl. Stir to mix. Add (B) and use an electric mixer to mix until incorporated, set aside.

3. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in another bowl until soft peak, then gradually add in the sugar. Beat until stiff peak is formed. Fold 1/3 of the white mixture into the yolk batter gently but thoroughly. Then, add 1/3 of the whites and do the same until all the whites is used.

4. Pour batter into a tube pan, give it a knock on the table. Bake for 50-60 mins or until a tooth pick inserted come out clean. Invert the pan and let the cake cool inside the pan. When cooled, loosen the edges and remove the cake to cool completely on a wire rack.

Check out my other Strawberry Chiffon Cake with Marshmallow.