Fried Fish Paste You Tiao

This is what happen when a craving strike! I really like the one that stuffed with sotong paste like commonly served in M'sia. But since I don't normally buy squids and also I think it's healthier with fish paste, I tried it out with the ready made fish paste. I seasoned the fish paste with sesame oil, white & black peppers and chopped scallion. Stuffed it in the you tiao and spread some sesame seeds on top and deep-fried until cooked.

Oh, do forgive my clumsy job with the mayonnaise! It's not supposed to be like this, supposed to be thin strips over and across the you tiao and made it really pretty. Little did I know that my mayo cap is the wide type and can't really do any pattern on it. Thus, look so ugly! LOL! My failed attempt on presentation. :P

When I tried it, only then I knew it's the wrong Mayo! Did they use the Japanese mayo in M'sia? Because it's certainly not the American mayo. The mayo served supposed to be on the sweet side and really compliment the fried you tiao well. Not the American mayo though, it just didn't suit and I resorted to eat it with the Thai sweet chili sauce instead. I was thinking either the Japanese mayo or they added honey or other stuff in the mayo. Anyone care to enlighten me?

It turned out crispy and good but it can be better with perhaps ground pork + shrimp paste. Fish paste is not as sweet in my opinion.

Here's to my last post of 2007. Tomorrow will be a new year to look forward to.

May the New Year brings us much joy, health and wealth!!

A Moment Captured!

I was busy preparing dinner and Edda came looking for me. She wanted me to carry her but I told her, mommy cannot carry you now because she needs to cook dinner, why don't you go where your daddy is. And when I turned around and I saw the scene below. I though what a moment and quickly grabbed my camera and took a few shots.

How sweet right?

I am really amaze at how much she understood me. Even though she only know how to say mama, papa, paopao (carry) and make the sound of lion roar, sometimes dog and cat but she can really understand me very well. Whatever I told her to do, she will do it for me. For example, when we were at my friend's A house, I was telling her Edda seem to understand what I said and to illustrate, I took out a jar and a cup from the playset and asked Edda to pour me some water (this was at 13 months). She would take the jar and pretend to pour the water in the cup and set the jar down. Then I told her to bring the cup for me and she did just that. How impressive was that for a 13 months old to do? My friend A said Edda is the most advance toddler she had ever seen, because not only she understood, she acted upon it with precision. I was like really, that's good to know. I was complaining that she hardly say much and then someone said the 2nd one would speak later because the 1st one tends to speak it on her behalf and thus making her least likely to talk. It does make sense or because this mommy didn't read for the 2nd one, that's why! *blush*

Edda, look here! As for daddy, need to censor a little bit....LOL!

Vertical Chicken Roaster

I wanted to show Beachlover my stand rack for roasting chicken. I bought this ages ago, probably with me for 10 years already and I have been using it to roast my chicken. So, not sure whether you can find this in the market these days because the one I have seen on the market now is the one Beachlover's got for herself.

With this, I have to use my own Pyrex pie plate, covered with foil for catching drips and easy cleaning. I also spray my rack before placing the chicken in for ease of cleaning too. I use my convection oven to roast my chicken and each time the skin of the chicken is crispy which my hubs loved. Since the chicken is standing up so the skin is crispy all over and making the chicken really tasty.

So, arm with this great tips, go buy a stand rack if you happen to see it. :)

Almond Mixed Fruit Scones

I made some cream scones again. I have a little of the heavy cream left and I wanted to use it before it expired. I remember this cream scones recipe is very easy and yummy, no beater needed, just a fork/spoon to mix the dry ingredients and lastly pour in the heavy cream (or use a food processor). Form a dough, cut and bake, very easy.



I added raisins and candied pineapples in my almond scones this time. Oh mine, this scones are just so delicious, so good when it was still warm and also very good when it's cold or days later (if it can last that long). I offered my hubby a piece when it was still warm, he refused to eat it. I was like this is a very tasty stuff, still he shakes his head, oh well more for me and the kids then. Guess what, he came home today and decided to try one, less than 3 minutes later he came out from the studies and took the whole container (only 2 left), I had to yell at him, you got to save one for me ya, don't finish all! LOL! It is that good, can even convert my hubby!

Pumpkin Cake

I happen to try some delicious store-bought pumpkin cakes at my friend's house recently which prompted me to make one myself. Since now is the season for pumpkin, the Libby's 15oz canned pumpkin is on-sales for $1 each. So, I grabbed some. After some research, I decided to try the Pumpkin Cake I posted at allrecipes.com.



The alternation that I made was I cut down the sugar to 2 cups. It turned out just nice for me, not overly sweet. I omitted the allspice because I don't have any and I also omitted the walnuts, easier for the kids to eat.


This cake is delicious, best eaten the next day when the crust has soften, easier to slice too. I store my cake in air-tight container.


Just want to show how moist and soft this pumpkin cake is! The spices are not too overpowering, just nice. A very festive cake indeed!


Lastly, while presenting you with this Pumpkin Cake, I want to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year! For those who don't celebrate Christmas, Happy Holidays to you too! :)

Nasi Lemak II

Nasi lemak again but this time I wanted to try the Chan Hong sambal ikan bilis that I bought earlier. I read so much great review on this that I just got to buy one bottle and try. And the reviews never failed, this is indeed good and way too convenient. I just pour it in the microwave safe bowl and microwaved for a minute and served with my ever easy nasi lemak side dishes. I sprayed my ikan bilis with canola oil spray and microwaved for 2 minutes, learned that from Lily. I toasted my peanuts in my toasted oven for 8 minutes, cut out my English cucumber (long seedless cucumber) and boiled eggs to serve. Easy!



This is the picture of the bottle. This product is one of the best sellers at mytasteofasia.com so grab some to try. This is not a sponsor post okay, I just want to introduce or recommend a product that I have tested and loved it to my readers. I think this is best for someone who doesn't know how to cook sambal ikan bilis or doesn't have time to cook. Or someone like me who is just curious and wanted to try something new or maybe lazy too lah. :P Oh BTW, new products are in stock now. Even has belachan powder!

This sambal tasted like the Malay nasi lemak bungkus with banana leaf sambal at mamak stalls. Medium spicy.

Christmas Cookies

Butter cookies

Made some cookies as a gift and these were some of them. You can use a basic butter cookie dough , add peanut butter chips for color effect. And below, I added green coloring and pure peppermint extract for the season. As for me I used my melting moment recipe, added more flour and make it into a crispy cookies. All with the feel by hands, so don't ask me for recipe ya. But you can certainly experiment with it. I did this few years back with the same recipe and I played around with it and created 5 different cookies.

Only when I wanted to make Christmas cookies did I realize that I don't even have a Christmas tree, snowflake and ginger breadman cookie cutters! Guess now I will have to look for those to buy when it's on sales or cheap to keep for next year! I really thought I have this common cookie cutters! *Duh right?*

Peppermint Cookies

Orange Mixed Berries Pistachio Biscotti

I love my biscotti flavored with orange zest or lemon zest. It seem to bring out the flavor more and make it really tasty. You can eat it just like that because it's so flavorful.

Winter Wonderland

It has been snowing again. It snowed the past Saturday and today and it is freezing cold. Currently at -8'C (but feel like -12'C) and tonight low is -13'C and tomorrow high is only going to reach 1'C. V, if you are reading this, the weather in Singapore is so much nicer compared to this cold. Enjoy the hot weather there as you would probably home to snow and COLD! I am not sure who wants to go out in this kind of weather unless has to.



Look at the accumulation on my deck! But this is nothing compared to foots of snow we got last year. I took these pictures on my sliding door as I would not want to step outside in this cold. Just want to share with those in Asia what it is like here where I live. It spelled C.O.L.D! *shivering*

Btw, winter solstice festival or tang yuen festival falls on Dec. 22nd. Let's make some tang yuen on this day, it's a fun time letting your little one plays with the dough too. Evy has been asking me to make tang yuen, but this lazy mommy told her, wait until winter solstice day first since mommy is lazy. :P

Apple Crumble Pie

Frankly we were not an Apple Pie fan. Not even the Bakery's apple pie can convinced us otherwise. And then we were introduced to Apple crumble pie ages ago while having dinner at an American couple's house and thought that hey it was actually not bad at all. Perhaps it was the crispy top? Or the spices she used in her apple pie filling? Not sure...but her apple crumble pie just tasted great. So, I was more open-minded from then on.



I went online and came across this recipe at Allrecipes.com and decided to give it a try. I totally loved it and have been making this pie ever since. Years went by and I am glad that the recipe is still there and gaining popularity.



This time, I also added some oats, raisins and chocolate chips in my crumble topping just for some variation. Serve with a scoop of your favorite ice-cream or a dollop of whipped cream and here's a slice of your pie! Oh yeah, this pie tastes better the next day. Looking at the picture, I need to go get myself a slice again. LOL! The top stayed crispy for days, just don't cover it with anything. I keep mine uncovered in the oven.

My First Bento

Just sharing a bento I made recently. This was for myself as Evy doesn't eat much and her share couldn't fill the bento. LOL! Got this Hello Kitty box at Dollar Tree for $1, what a steal right?



I made rice mold for Evy too in her dinner plate and she totally loved it as well. She said, I want the carrot for the eyes too. LOL! Next time might have to use black sesame seeds cause the toasted sesame seeds didn't stand out.

Sweet Potato Pie

I finally made my sweet potato pie today, ahem... 4 days after Thanksgiving. LOL! Why? Because I already bought the sweet potato and every time I opened the refrigerator, it has been screaming at me to bake it. Oh well, it is the season for pie so let's have some pies before I have no mood to bake pie anymore. Therefore, I will have another one of my favorite pies coming up. But have to wait until we finish this pie first, got to do it one at a time.

I made everything from scratch, even the crust. Home made crust is so much better than the frozen pie crust, so even as lazy as I am, I just have to make my own pie crust. I guess a bonus now is I own a food processor, so it's way easier to make the crust, just let the food processor does its' job. While the pie dough resting in the refrigerator, I will prepare the sweet potato pie filling.

This is my favorite recipe that I have been using for years. It has never failed me and I totally loved it. I got the recipe from Allrecipe.com so click here for the recipe. Oh, I added 1 Tbsp. of cornstarch into the filling to thicken it more. Serve with whipped cream on the side. Little Edda totally loved it and always requested two pieces for herself!

Thank You for Being My Friend Award....

I want to thanks Sweet Jasmine for giving me this award. It was so sweet of her to consider me as a friend. Through blogging, we do make friends and learn from each others or get inspired or inspiration to create a new dish on our own. It's the love of sharing that make it a success. Sweet Jasmine, thank you for being my friend and vise-versa!

In addition, I also want to take this opportunity to thanks my readers and silent readers for your support! :)

Without delay, I want to pass this award to:

V's East Meets West Kitchen

Daily Affairs

Daphne- More than Words

Big Boys Oven

Beachlover's Kitchen

Tigerfish - Teczcape

Retno's Kedai Hamburg, Germany

Fresh from the Oven

The Art and Science of Food

Baking Fiends Unite!

Edith's Precious Moments

TAG - You're it!

I got tagged by Daily Affairs for this long meme....hehehe....

W H O . W A S . T H E. L A S T . P E R S O N

1. You hung out with?: My best of friends, A & family.
2. Saw you cry: Hubs.
3. Went to the movies with you?: Hubs before we had any kid...ages ago I know.
4. You went to the mall with?: My family.
5. You went to dinner with?: My family.
6. You talked on the phone to?: Hubby.
7. Said ‘I love you’ to you and really meant it?: Evy.
8. Made you laugh?: My girls.

W O U L D . Y O U . R A T H E R?

1. Pierce your nose or tongue? None, thank you.
2. Be serious or be funny? Be funny, but I have none funny bone in me!
3. Drink whole or skim milk? Whole.
4. Spend time with your parents or enemies? Parents.

D O . Y O U . P R E F E R.

1. Flowers or candy? Flowers.
2. Gray or black? Black.
3. Color or Black and white photos? Both.
4. Lust or love? Love.
5. Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise...a bright new day to look forward to.
6. M and Ms or Skittles? M&M with peanut.
7. Staying up late or waking up early? Both.

D O . Y O U . P R E F E R.

1. Sun or moon? Sun.
2. Winter or Fall? Fall, one last chance to go to the park or stroll on historical town before it turns cold.
3. Left or right?: Right.
4. 10 acquaintances or having two best friends?: Two best friends.
5. Sunny or rainy?: Sunny.
6. Vanilla ice cream or chocolate ice cream: Chocolate ice cream.

A B O U T . Y O U

1. What time is it?: 9.23am.
2. Nickname(s): None.
3. What is your birth date?: LEO here.
4. What do you want?: Good health.
5. Where do you want to live?: Depends on Hubs.
6. How many kids do you want?: Two or three? (haven't decided yet)
7. You want to get married?: Already am.

U N I Q U E

1. Nervous habit: None.
2. Are you double jointed?: No.
3. Can you roll your tongue?: No.
4. Can you raise one eyebrow?: No.
5. Can you cross your eyes?: Yes
6. Do you make your bed daily?: No hehe...
7. Can you draw? I think so.

R A N D O M

1. Which shoe goes on first? Doesn't matter.
2. Ever thrown a shoe at someone? Don't think so.
3. What is your craziest experience ever? Skiing for the first time.

F O O D

1. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it? Twirl.
2. Have you ever eaten spam? Yes.
3. Favourite ice cream: Too many to list.
4. How many kinds of cereal are in your cabinet? One.
5. What’s your favourite beverage? Water.
6. Do you cook? Yes.

IN . T H E . L A S T . M O N T H . H A V E . Y O U ?

1. Bought something: Yes.
2. Sang: Yes, just this morning...Barney song!
3. Been hugged: Yes.
4. Felt stupid: Yes.
5. Missed someone: Yes.
6. Danced crazy: Yes, with my girls.
7. Gotten your hair cut: No.
8. Cried: Yes.
9. Lied: Not that I recall.

And to the following ladies: TAG, you're It!

Rainbows

Beachlover's Kitchen

And anyone who wants to do this tag, feel free! :P

My Dry Version Pan Mee + Soup

I wanted to try something different. And since I have a packet of Ina Pan Mee and some ground pork, so I was thinking of making Pan Mee but the dry version. I have seen some dry version emerging from some food blogs lately but I have never tasted it before. Can't even buy it here if I wanted to, so how? Have to make my own lor.



So, here's my version after mixed it together. Just like ko lor mee/wontan mee sauce but using this pan mee noodle instead. I used oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, dark soy sauce, white pepper and garlic oil.

I made this soup with the seasonings came with the Ina pan mee. Added chai hsin (green) and frozen dumplings to boil it together. What a satisfying dinner it turned out to be. Oh yeah prepared some cut chili padi to eat with the noodle, hor jiak!

This is the picture of the Ina Pan Mee, taken from mytasteofasia.com. I like the Ina Yee Mee too, very good!


Announcement:
Lots of out of stock products have been back in stock so grab yours before it's gone again. Expect to see more new product arriving this week too. :)

Easy Tiramisu

Tiramisu anyone? I made too many vanilla cupcakes the other day (as you all know) and I was left with 5 unfrosted cupcakes sitting in the fridge. Thus, I have to turn it into something so that my family will eat it. I have cream cheese and heavy cream in the house and thus light bulb, Tiramisu it is! I always wanted to make that anyway, but always lack of one or two ingredients. So, I invented this Easy Tiramisu. Timing was right also because it became our Thanksgiving dessert. :)
Note: Best to use cupcakes that are soft and fluffy or sponge like cupcakes.

3 in 1 Tag - About me

I got tagged by Rainbows for this 3 in 1 tag and she picked to do only one tag which is About Me and so do I. Hehehe....

1. A movie that made you laugh.
Place of Glory. Those two actors skating together as a pair for a chance to win a Gold medal is enough to make you laugh.

2. A book that made you cry.
"Chin Yao" Chinese romance story book writer always made me cry!

3. A Best Friend.
I have a few best friends, unfair to just list one.

4. A favorite childhood memories.
Traveling overseas with my parents and siblings.

5. Your favorite animal.
I would say cute little puppy.

6. Your favorite food.
Nasi Lemak and many more.

7. An item of clothing you cannot do without.
Right now it's my winter coat because it's freezing cold outside!

8. Something you collect.
My old clothes! *hide*

9. Your favorite store to shop in.
Can't list a favorite because there are stores I go in for different things.

10.Your favorite flower.
Rose. :)

I would like to pass this tag to:

East Meets West Kitchen

Daily Affairs

More than Words

Beachlover

Radish Chicken in Tamarind Sauce

This is a dish that my mom used to cook. The sourness from the tamarind, the spiciness from the dried red chillies just made this dish wonderful. I bought a small white radish while marketing this past Sunday because I wanted to recreate this dish. I added some dried Chinese mushroom just because I had some. Just writing down an "agaration" recipe here for my record, if not I would have forgotten what I put in it.

World Best Friend Week

Oh wow, how nice of Singarishgirl to pass this to me. I feel really honor. :) *big smile* Thank you and big HUG!

"Do you know the relationship between your 2 eyes? They blink together, move together, cry together, see things together and sleep together. Even though they never see each other, friendship should be just like that! Life is like Hell without FRIENDS. Its ‘World Best Friend Week’. Send this to your best friends to let them know you appreciate them.

Your Love is Ur Heart,
Your heart is Ur Spouse,
Your spouse is Ur Future,
Your future is Ur Destiny,
Your destiny is Ur Ambition,
Your ambition is Ur Aspiration,
Your aspiration is Ur Motivation,
Your motivation is Ur Belief,
Your belief is Ur Peace,
Your peace is Ur Target,
Your target is Heaven,
Heaven is no fun without FRIENDS.

I would like to pass this on to my real life best of friends: East Meets West Kitchen (the more the merrier right?) and Lily's Wai Sek Hong. :)

And to the fellow blogging friends who always leave me comments and support me:

Tigerfish

Big Boys Oven

Kedai Hamburg

The Art and Science of Food

Beachlover

More than Words (more for you too!)

Daily Affairs (back to you again!)

Thank You! :)

Birthday Cupcakes

Made some cupcakes for hubby's birthday. Since using cupcakes as a birthday cake is so trendy these days, so why not right? It's pretty fun to make since I didn't make it too difficult. I used the vanilla cupcakes as the base and the butter cream frosting to frost the cupcakes. Oh man, it was really hard to do a good job with a little one crying and the other one kept asking for this and that! What a day!

I was really stingy with my butter cream as in I only spread a thin layer of cream on top because thinking it will all go into our body, so the less the better. Thus, left with lots of butter cream, next time will half the recipe, don't want to be wasteful. But if it's for a party of course the more the merrier as I know people do love to eat frosting. It also make a prettier presentation too.

Close up of my heart cupcake, signified the love we have for him. Not very good at piping so just "chin chai chin chai kao dim". Evy made him a birthday card, sang birthday song and even helped him to blow the candles. Oh, Evy helped in making the cupcakes too (mixing and stirring, her favorite part!).

Blog of The Month Award

I would like to thanks Singarishgirl for passing me this "Your Blog of The Month Award". Just happy that I can increase my collection of awards to be put on my front page. :D

Now, without further ado and joy I would like to pass it on to Big Boys Oven, Baking Mum, Precious Moment and KookyCulinary.

Easy Thanksgiving Meal 2007

Definitely not a traditional meal at all because we had our Thanksgiving meal a day after. Yup! You heard it right. Why? My hubby lor! Everything was prepared for me to cook for dinner. We were planning to go out for lunch just some where close to our house (Denny's or IHOP) as we did every year. But last second hubby decided to drive to Denver to eat some Chinese food (hoping that nobody called him during that time, oh yeah, he was on-called), so off we went. When we reached Denver, it was like 2+pm and we were served dinner menu. We ordered salt & pepper crab (hubby said less messy to eat), salt and pepper pork ribs and HK kailan in garlic sauce. And we were served with free dessert, green beans sago sweet soup! (Oh wow, like this one I cooked before!). After that, we went to buy some "Ham Chin Pengs" and Fried Glutinous Rice Balls with mung beans filling, large BoBa Yam Milk Drink and headed home. Got home around 5pm and we were still soooo fulled that we decided to skip dinner. So the "Ham Chin Pengs" and Fried Glutinous Rice Balls became our quick dinner. And thus resulted in Thanksgiving meal served on Friday. I can only do this because I didn't have to bake a turkey and no guests to expect. If not, how can? Sharing with you what I intended to cook on Thanksgiving day.


Clockwise from left: Maple Glazed Carrot with Toasted Walnuts, Cut Green Beans with Crispy Shallots, Pan-sealed Chicken Breasts in Sage, Mashed Potatoes.


Serve with yummy Gravy and Toasts spread with toasted garlic in EVOO.



Oh man, this turned out to be so good! Even the two little ones wiped their plates cleaned. I was really surprised at little Edda, she even asked for second helping of carrots and green beans!! Not very traditional without the Turkey but hubby said no turkey, I guess he wouldn't want to eat the leftover for days.

I cooked my carrots, green beans and potatoes in Swanson 100% fat free and zero MSG chicken stock before adding other stuff to it, thus making it more flavorful. I didn't want to make my usual Sweet Potatoes Pie because I still have cupcakes and Tiramisu in the fridge. Really don't want to overeat my sweet so decided to postpone it.

Vanilla Cupcakes

I have been eyeing this recipe for a while. It has been popping up at a few food blogs I frequent and I have been wanting to try it. Finally did it today using the recipe posted by Hugbear here. I followed her recipe by using the brown sugar and white sugar and the exact reduced amount. It turned out just sweet enough for me. Thanks LeeLee for sharing. :)
Note: For those who had tried the original recipe all stated it was too sweet.



This cupcake is really a winner because it is so soft and fluffy! Even days later, it is still soft. This modified version of Hugbear's cupcakes are infused with the fragrant of brown sugar. Next time just remember to cut the recipe into half because the original recipe yields 24 cupcakes!! I forgot to cut the recipe into half (she didn't say how much this recipe yields) and kept looking for baking pans to fill the batter. Thus, the 6 cupcakes pan and mini bundt pan were used. Have to ask my hubby to bring some to work because I don't want to eat sooooo many cupcakes!

Spicy Hot & Sour Chicken

I saw this Beachlover's Spicy Hot and Sour Tilapia Fish and decided to give it a try. I like her idea of the sauce, incorporating Tom Yam paste instead of tomato sauce in her sweet and sour sauce. As you know, I also use Tom Yam paste in my stir-fry as this post here. So, let's get cooking! Instead of the fish, I stir-fry some chicken breasts to cook with the sauce. It's indeed a very good sauce, not only good for fish and chicken, but pork as well. Do give it a try! This sauce is slightly spicy, sweet and sour with hint of Tom Yam flavor.

Delimas Assam Seafood Paste (Assam Fish)

I wanted to try this Delimas Assam Seafood Paste for awhile but just never really gotten a chance to do so. Perhaps I was thinking of getting the similar fish like those shown in the picture of the packet before I cooked it. But, months went by and I just didn't see it (or I never walked on the fish aisle when I was in the Asian Market). Anyway, long story short, I decided not to wait anymore and took out my frozen Tilapia fillets and started cooking.

I coated my fish fillets with rice flour and pan-fried until golden brown, set aside. Then, I followed the instruction at the back of the packet, mixed 350ml of water with the paste and let boiled, then added in the frozen okras (fresh ones are best of course) and let it simmered for 10 minutes. Pour the sauce and okras on a plate and placed the fried fish fillets on top and top with more Assam sauce before serving. (Sorrylah, no tomato!)

This is how the packet looks like. For those who lives in the U.S., you can buy it online at mytasteofasia.com. If you like Assam Fish, you will like this! If you have tried this paste, how you cooked yours and what fish did you use?

Surprise!

I received a surprise package today. YAY, a package for me! Flip over and it was from France. So I know it's my gift from Cooking Ninja from answering the correct answer. I tried to find the direct link on that post but I just couldn't recall which post already so I gave up. What is it huh? Couldn't understand a word from the box!

Let's open and see! Hmmm...what is it huh? Still no clue!

What is it huh? Hahaha... Look at the ingredients list at the back, can't understand a word also, but managed to see a word Melon in it. So, I'm guessing it's a Melon Candy? But what kind of melon I don't know. It's my first of seeing and eating this kind of candy.

Look who else is enjoying this candy! Got a thumb up from her as well and she totally loved it! Okay, assuming this is how we eat it and what I assumed it is to be, if not "teruk lah"! LOL!

Thanks Cooking Ninja for my surprise gift from France! Please do let me know what it is okay? :)