Monday, September 03, 2007

Tagged: 12 Layers

Layer One : On the outside
Name : Ching
DOB : Prefer not to tell, but a LEO here.
Eye Colour: Dark Brown
Hair Colour: Black
Righty or Lefty: Righty

Layer Two : On the Inside
Your Heritage: Hokkein lang here.
Your Fears : Death of loved ones.
Your Weaknesses: Can't swim and gullible.
Your Perfect Pizza: Pizza Hut's pan pizza.

Layer Three: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Your Thoughts First Waking Up: Need to bring my girls to the Zoo.
Your Bedtime: Around 10-11pm. Hard to stay up with little one since my schedule catered around her.
Your Most Missed Memory: Travelling overseas with my parents.

Layer Four: Your pick
Pepsi or Coke: Pepsi.
McDonald's or Burger King: Burger King.
Single or group dates : Both. I value family time but once in awhile I like group dates.
Adidas or Nike: Don't really care.
Tea or Nestea: Tea.
Chocolate or Vanilla: Chocolate always.
Cappuccino or Coffee: Cappuccino.

Layer Five: Do You
Smoke: Never, don't like people who smoke either.
Curse: No.
Have a crush: No, how can I? LOL!
Think you've been in love: Definitely.
Go to school: Graduated. Horray, finally no more exams!!
Want to get married: Already.
Think you're a health freak: Not really, believe everything in moderation.

Layer Six: In The Past Month Have you...
Drank alcohol: Not a alcohol person.
Gone to the mall: Nope, I should!
Eaten sushi: Yes.
Dyed your hair: Nope.

Layer Seven: Have You Ever...
Played A Stripping Game: Never, are you kidding?
Changed Who You Were To Fit In: Never, if you want to be my friend, love me for who I am or get lost! :P

Layer Eight: You're Hoping
To Be Married: Done that!
For a: Long and healthy life with my hubby and two daughters.

Layer Nine: In a Boy (For guys, In a Gal)
Best Eye + Best Hair Color Combination: Who cares?
Short Hair or Long Hair: Short of course!

Layer Ten: What Were You Doing
1 Min Ago: Doing this.
1 Hour Ago: Eating breakfast.
4.5 Hours Ago: Sleeping.
1 month Ago: Donno leh.
1 Year Ago: 9 months pregnant and wondering who's my 2nd daughter was going to look like.

Layer Eleven: Finish The Sentence
I Love: My little family, parents & siblings.
I Feel: Happy and fulfilled.
I Hate: Hypocrites.
I Hide: When I need time to be alone and think.
I Miss: Being around my parents and siblings.

Layer Twelve: Tag Five People
Anyone who hasn't done this, feel free to do it.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Stir-Fried Rice Macaroni



I was introduced to this rice macaroni by Lily while we shopped together at the Asian store. She told me this dried noodle resembled the "lor see fun" and since I have been wanting to eat "lor see fun", I quickly grabbed it and put in my cart. Sorry for the empty packet because I only remembered to take a picture after I done cooking it. Lily, thanks for the recommendation! :)



This is what I came out with. Stir-fry rice macaroni with "chai hsin" and fish cakes. The sauce I used were oyster sauce, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and sesame paste. It tasted pretty good along with some cut chili padi. But I don't think it really resemble the "lor see fun" leh. Man, I miss eating "lor see fun" with ground pork.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Introducing Ibumie Instant Noodles & Update

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I stayed at my friend's house while people working on my hardwood floor. When I returned, I had to air my house plus lots of cleaning to do. My pantry needed a thorough cleaning, not helping with the amount of stuff I have in there. Then, I have to wash all my plates, utensil, pots & pans, containers, basically everything. Hence, I have not been really cooking.

Worst of all, my Edda got spoilt at my friend and Lily's house and have been clingy to me ever since we returned. She wanted me to carry her all the times, I put her down, she cried, I walked away, she cried and crawled to look for me. She didn't even want to open her eyes to see the treat I present in front of her, she just cried and cried. She only stop when I carried her. Thus, I need to re-train her to be independent again. If not I won't be able to do anything. Today is so much better, at least she started to play on her own again, crawling around and play with her sister instead of crying and looking for me to carry her.



I want to introduce this Indomie instant noodles to you readers (since I haven't been cooking and have been eating instant noodles), if you haven't tried it already. These Prawn noodle and Herbal Duck Flavour noodle are soooo good. I totally loved it and thought that it tasted better than Maggi mee. The Prawn noodle also comes with dried shallot bits and actually kinda spicy. The herbal duck flavour noodle has a subtle herbal taste in the soup. Furthermore, this brand is more affordable too. If you haven't tried this brand, go ahead and give it a try. For those that living in the States, you can buy it at MyTOA.

We really get lots of variety of instant noodles these days huh?

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Merdeka Open House 2007: Murtabak Muhibbah

Babe in the city left an invitation at my comment box for this year Merdeka Open House 2007: Muhibbah. This year theme is to create a different ethnic group dish and explain how this dish has been known to me and why it has became my favorite. It was an honor to be invited and I am proud to present you my first participation in the Merdeka Open House.



Murtabak is a well-known Indian pancake stuffed with curry meat, onion and egg. It is also known as Martabak in Indonesia. This Indian Malaysian snack is commonly found in the mamak stall or pasar malam (night market). Mamak stall or hawker stall is very common in Malaysia and it usually filled with mouth-watering food and snacks.

While growing up in Malaysia, I love to go jalan-jalan (walk) in the night market. Since the night market is not only filled with food but also things to see and buy. I guess it is also one of Malaysian way of passing time or people watching. But these days, the youngsters might prefer the air-conditioned mega Mall instead of pasar malam. Haha! Anyway, that was how I discovered murtabak! While walking around the pasar malam searching for my dinner and got attracted by this Indian man making and cooking his murtabak for sales. He cooked his murtabak in a big rectangle griddle. First he spread the thin dough on the griddle and then he put in the filling, spread beaten egg on top, wrap it up and pan-fried until cooked and crispy on the outside. That's how I got introduced to Murtabak, by watching how the Indian man cooked his and bought some and tried it myself. Murtabak is delicious because it has the crispy exterior and thus crispy as you bite into it and then your mouth just filled with the delicious curry filling of meat and veggie. Who wouldn't love it? That's how it became one of my favorite snacks to eat.



I got my Murtabak making inspiration from Teczcape. T, thanks for providing me with this idea to fulfill my Muhibbah project. :)

Here's my adapted recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 small yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup green peas
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1 tsp. sugar
1 egg, beaten
5 Springs Home frozen plain roti paratha

Method:

Heat 2 Tbsp. canola oil in a non-stick pan and add in onion. Fry til soften, add in ground pork, separate and fry til cooked. Add in bell pepper and green peas and all the seasoning. Add a little water if needed. Mix well and pour the beaten egg on it. Fry til the egg is cooked. Dish out and set aside.

Let the roti paratha soften til foldable consistency, about 5 minutes. This can be quite a sticky job. Spread the filling in the center of the roti paratha and fold in on all edges to close. Put fold side down on a med. heat non-stick pan with a little oil and pan-fry until brown and crispy. Then, flip to the other side and do the same.

Serve warm! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.


Lastly, for all the Malaysian around the world, I would love to wish you a Happy Independence Day! Kepada semua rakyat-rakyat Malaysian, Selamak Hari Merdeka ya! :D

Tags:

Monday, August 20, 2007

Nonya Assam Heh (Nyonya Tamarind Prawns)



One of the Penang Nyonya dishes is Assam Heh or Tamarind Prawns. I first learned about this dish from my mom. My mom was from Alor Star, Kedah and thus a lot of her cooking has been influenced by the Nyonya in Penang. I guess any dish that tasted good would be adapted in a family, and in this case my mom. It has became my favorite because of how delicious it is and how easy it is to cook. Tamarind is a common item used in a Malaysian household. And I would love to share with you this easy Tamarind Prawns recipe. The used of tamarind made this dish a Nyonya dish (incorporation of Malay ingredient into Chinese cuisine).

Friday, August 17, 2007

Banana Fritters/ Kuih Kodok








I finally found a quick and easy way to get rid of my ripen banana instead of use it for banana cake. That is to make banana fritters, it's easier, less thing for me to wash, and can use as little as one banana! I don't know about you, but I hardly left with 3 ripen bananas that nobody wants to eat. It will either be one or two and that was not enough to make banana cake or muffin. So, I adapted my recipe from Isha's kuih kodok. And since I only have two black banana looking at me instead of three, this is what I did,