Sharing Some Random Pictures

AFormosa Safari near the entrance. Frankly I was quite disappointed in this. Pretty small and the western show suck, couldn't understand a word came out of their mouths.


This must be her favorite thing to do in the Safari: Pony ride. By the way, only cost $4 for a round.


Waiting for the multi-talented animal show to start. Look at her rosy cheeks, you know how hot it was.


Edda happily smiling for the camera in a Thai restaurant. Usually she would look down or side way to avoid looking at the camera.


Their favorite ride in Genting resort while waiting for the grandparents who were playing slot machines inside the casino. Edda was sitting alone in the third car. Lost count of how many rounds they were in it.

Pork Floss n Egg Hot Dog

This was what I did with my leftover two hot dog buns before I came to Malaysia. Each package of hot dog buns came in eight but it only had six brats in a package, so what to do with the other two hot dog buns? I decided to make myself some Pork Floss n Egg Hot Dog for breakfast. This was also to answer Tigerfish's question as to what other ways I used the pork floss. Check out Tigerfish version with peanut butter.



I spread the hot dog buns generously with butter on both sides and grill it in my indoor grill. Pour the beaten egg in the grill as well (since I'm too lazy to wash any extra pan) and stir to cook the egg. Then, just put the egg in the hot dog buns, spread some pork floss on top and drizzle with some Malaysian chili sauce. Hmmm...if only I can have some "bak kwa" too!

Back in J.B.

Finally back in J.B. late last night. We were planning to visit Sentosa Island tomorrow but it has to be postponed because my little girl has a little fever due to the heat. Just fed her the fever medicine and hope the fever will go down soon and her appetite will return. The time spent in P.J. went like lightning and in few days time we will be flying back to U.S. My brother wedding went well, and I got to see or meet my relatives whom I haven't seen for more than 15 years. It was nice to see their children all grown up.

Sid from Big Boys Oven managed to catch me on Friday for brunch before some of my relatives arrived from out of states. I would love to thanks Sid for bringing us out to try the famous melt in the mouth Seremban char siew and Hakka noodle. I would have to get the address from him so that my parents and family will get to try it too as I have no idea where it was. The char siew is really melt in the mouth soft (sinful also lah) and I really like the hakka mee. Some of the bloggers/floggers posted this place before but I forgot who already.

Fat liao Fat liao

How can I not putting on weight? All the yummy food, three meals a day plus all the food I wanted to try....siao liao lor. Furthermore, I have more than one week of makaning before flying back to U.S. Man, not sure to cut back on eating or what! Gained 10 pounds already and still eating.... *pengsang* Really have to go on diet and exercise when I go back to U.S.

Just got back from Genting Highland and really enjoyed the weather there, not as cold but at least it was not hot. My girls were having fun at the indoor theme park, really worth it for the whole day pass. I managed to try the Durian and Pandan tarts at Gotong Jaya. Not bad lah, not really crazy for it!

The other day we bought some D24 durian at Giant. They cut it fresh in front of us before they wrapped it. It was selling 2 for $20 and we started chatting and the friendly uncle gave me a package of local durian ($5) free. Very nice hor? My hubby even get to sample the D24 durian to make sure it was good before buying. My Evy refused to eat durian but my "thiamjiak" Edda ate everything even the durian. I think Edda is just like the mommy who "sapu" or eat anything, that's why both of us are so chubby...hahaha...

I tried King Crab restaurant recently and really loved it. Hor Jiak leh! The salted egg yolk squid, oh my goodness, so sinful and yet so delicious, I couldn't stop eating it! The Guiness Pork Ribs also one of my favorites, the flavor is just so nice. I'm actually debating on whether to go back there again or try other new restaurant like New Formosa restaurant.

Easy Cold Tofu

This is one super easy home cook dish that I ever came out with. So easy that everyone can make this and no skill needed. Just cut some soft tofu and use the sauces that you already have at home and it's ready if you like it cold. If you prefer it hot, warm it in a microwave oven for 2 minutes and you have yourself a delicious dish.

Ingredients:

1 box of soft tofu, sliced into pieces (I only used half packet above)
Drizzle some oyster sauce on top
Drizzle some dark soy sauce on top
Drizzle some sesame oil on top
Sprinkle lots of fried shallots on top (I used store-bought crispy shallots that I keep in my freezer once opened, ready to use whenever I needed some, very convenient!)
Chopped fresh scallions for color (I didn't have any but would add this if I have some)
Chopped fresh red bird eye chilies (optional, for extra spiciness and color, and if you don't have kids sharing your food :P)

I don't think I need to write down the direction/method here. Try it for your family dinner tonight!

Here in P.J.

We reached PJ this morning. So, we will be here until the 25th. Going up to Genting Highland on the 19th and 20th. Have to get use to the weather here again, thus far it's very hot. Didn't manage to go to the Jonker street pasar malam. With a picky hubby who doesn't eat Hainanese chicken (white chicken), we have to settle for AFormosa Chicken Rice Balls on Jonker Street. Since over here, we had the choice of siew yoke and baked chicken. Nilmandra, you were right, nothing to shout about. I prefer the fluffy chicken rice anytime. Took a walk along Jonker street, but I couldn't find any famous spicy shrimp hiong piah? Also, the prices there were for tourist, all very expensive. Managed to stop at Jonker Dessert 88 for some durian ice cendol and Gula Melaka ice cendol plus the Nyonya Laksa. When we returned to the car, we found a $30 parking ticket on our window wiper. Aiya!!! We didn't know we have to buy ticket and just happy that we found a parking space. Luckily we met someone who was very helpful and helped us to bargain and cut the fine to $15. Managed to stop by at Jing Yuan Biscuit and Bakery and bought some mini tau sar piah and hiong piah to bring it here. Had to miss the satay celok because it only opened at night and it was hard to drive all over here again at night to eat. It was about 30 minutes drive from the place we stayed to Melaka, so after the Safari, swimming in the swimming pool, got shower, we were all dead tired.

Steamed Green Tea Cupcakes

I love the steamed banana cupcakes so I decided to make other variety of steamed cakes. Since I really love green tea flavor so this was an easy choice. For sure I will try out different flavors in the future. I steamed this in my newly acquired diamond shape Wilton's silicon cups. Hmmm...looks like these steamed cakes want to play "pee ka boo" with me! LOL!


How it looked when I took it out from the silicon cups and turned it the other side so that it didn't look like these cuppies were saying "pee ka boo". These steamed cuppies are soft and light, I really loved it. I also made it healthier by using skim milk and oil.

Melaka, here I come!

We will be heading to Melaka tomorrow. Going to stay in AFormasa Resort at Alor Gajah for two nights. Will bring the girls to the Safari and probably outdoor theme park. Not sure about the water park yet since I heard it's mostly for adults. So, probably will skip that. Can't wait to eat the famous Chicken rice balls that I have read all these years in Melaka and pay a visit to the popular Jonker Street for more makaning. Oh yeah, beachlover, I will remember to bring the mosquito spray. ;)

We will head to PJ on Thursday and stay until the 25th. During my stay at PJ, will sure go visit KLCC. Oh yeah, we will be heading to Genting Highland on the 19th and 20th. Feel free to say Hi if you recognize my girls through my blog ya. I probably won't have excess to the Internet during my stay in Alor Gajah and Genting Highland.

Update!

We are postponing our trip to Sentosa Island until the end of May. In case you don't know, all Malaysian get to pay half price at Sentosa on May 23rd - June 30th. Just show your Malaysian passport at the ticketing counter. We can even pay the equivalent prices in Ringgit! What a great deal!

The weather here is actually not too bad, lots of rain and thus not very hot. We haven't encountered the mosquito problem yet, thanks God. Guess what happen while we went to eat dinner yesterday? We saw a police man with a gun man standing outside of the restaurant and kept shooting at the birds on top of the trees! No wonder the birds were so noisy flying around. The gun shots were loud and the birds were as loud, what a way to have dinner. Sister in law said they are shooting the birds down because of the over population. Got to say this was not an easy task because the birds came back in the evening, so shooting at black bird at evening time was not easy at all, and how many could they get? 10-20 the most! They better just chop off the tree in half. :P

Flaky Pie Crust

This is for Gert. I adapted this recipe from allrecipes.com. I love this basic pie crust recipe and has been using it for all my homemade pies. I even used it to bake curry and pork floss puffs. For the above chicken pot pie, I used two pie crusts.

Ingredients: (yield one 9 inch pie crust)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, cold, cubed
3-5 tablespoons ice water

Method:

1. In a food processor, add in the flour, salt and cubed cold butter. Pulse a couple of times.

2. Add in Tbsp. of cold water while pulsing at the top opening until a dough is formed.

3. Turn the dough on a plastic wrap, wrap well and refrigerate until ready to use.

Fried Rice w/ Egg Roll

I was invited by Mochachocolata-Rita to participate in her first ever virtual party to celebrate her 88th post in her blog. She wanted us to create a dish that resembles the Chinese Take-Out and we can be creative with the recipe. Since I'm leaving to Malaysia in few hours, I could only make some fried rice with a real Chinese take out egg roll. We love to order chicken fried rice and what's better way to accompany the fried rice but the Chinese egg roll. Rita, thanks for hosting this Chinese take out party!



Here's my simplified fried rice recipe using the leftover grilled chicken from Famous Dave restaurant.

Ingredients:

Leftover cold rice, about 5 cups
Grilled chicken breast, shredded
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 carrot, sliced
2 eggs, beaten

(A)
Oyster sauce
Chinese white white
Soy sauce

Method:

1. Heat wok with oil and scramble the eggs until cooked, dish out and set aside.

2. Heat wok with oil again and add in the chopped garlic. Stir-fry until slightly golden, add carrots, bell peppers and grilled chicken. Stir well and add the white rice. Stir until mix well and add (A) to taste. Stir-fry until the rice is jumping in the wok, dish out and serve.



Check out the Chinese Take-Out Party on May 12th.

Here at Last

Yes, we are finally here in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Getting use to the hot and humid weather again but this time I find the weather is tolerable. My girls are doing good as well, at least they didn't complain they are hot. Going to Singapore this weekend, at least my girls will have some fun visiting Sentosa Island and Vivo City and their relatives. Here in J.B. is pretty boring, nothing much to do and nothing special to eat. Thus far, my hubby got his new passport done. It was done in few hours, surprisingly fast, went there in the morning and collected the passport in the afternoon and I waited 3 months to get my passport from U.S. Will update more after the trip to Singapore.

Green Tea Oats Cookies

I was browsing through food blogs and then some and then I felt my hands itchy again. Itch to have some action and then my mind started to wander. I wanted to make something very easy without taking out my electric beaters and incorporating green tea powder (as I love it) and sort of healthy at the same time and thus this was created.

If you like crunchy oats cookies with green tea fragrant, this is the recipe for you. I used this Oats Cookies but instead of vanilla extract, I used 1/2 tsp. of green tea powder, omitted the raisins and choc. chips and used 1 cup of oats instead.



The resulted cookies of the day! The color and shape of this cookie seem to me very suitable to serve on Halloween. :P I can imagine adding two tiny choc. chips as eyes and I will have myself a plate of little green goblins starring at me. LOL! Surprisingly, this cookie was well received by my hubby and two girls.

Vacation Finally!!

In few hours, I will be on the plane heading back to Malaysia. I will be back for a month. First stop would be Johor Bahru where my in-laws are. This is my long awaited vacation to Malaysia. I also get to attend my brother's wedding banquet in P.J. at the end of the month. We will visit Singapore, Melaka and Genting & Cameron Highlands in this trip and I can't wait to visit Sentosa Island after 20+ years. I also can't wait to eat my way through Melaka and visit the Jonker Street. Stop at the Ostrich Farm at P.D on the way to P.J. And visit my high school friends whom I haven't seen for 14 years!! Cool down at Genting Highlands and Cameron Highland (will be needed for sure) and let the kids have some fun at the theme park, shopping at KLCC and visit more friends from college days. Can't wait!!!

I will keep updating in Malaysia whenever I have access to the Internet. I also have some drafts that I will be posting in Malaysia so stay tuned! Oh by the way, I might be late in responding to your comments, but rest assure that I will, just a bit late! :o) Also, I might not be able to visit your blog often or in the month of May at all, sorry in advance ya!

Chicken Pot Pie

I made Gert's chicken pot pie the other night because I have all the ingredients at home. I omitted the potatoes because we don't really like it and added the corn kernels. I made my own pie crusts as well. With a food processor, pie crust is very easy to make. I did the lattice by hands, didn't know we get to buy the lattice pie cutter these days, can really save a lot of work.



Since I used raw chicken breasts instead of cooked and omitted the potatoes. My cooking method was slightly different. First, I had to saute the chicken until cooked with the onion, and I only used one cup of water since I didn't have to boil cook the potatoes. Lastly I thicken the sauce with some cornstarch.



A slice of the pot pie the lazy way (instead of the individual ones, Gert & I made it into one big pie)! My hubby actually liked it and had three huge pieces. Edda liked it too except the picky Evy. I think that was because she didn't like celery but she did finish the top crust and most of the filling. Gert, thanks for sharing this recipe. :o)

Editing to add:



This is what happen as of now, cloudy with heavy snow falls !! And it's MAY 1st TODAY!!

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:

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.

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.

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:

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.

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!

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!