2009 New Year's Resolution

I don't think I've ever had a resolution that worked. I've had a blessed 2007-2008. Lots of challenges, all overcomed. Although I went through a lot of anguish in 2008, lots of trials; God has blessed me abundantly with His eternal grace. As we end 2008, everyone's affected by the global economy downturn. I've watched with agony Sterling pounds dropped from a good 7 to 1RM, to now barely 5. Gritting my teeth even now!

I hope everything will be well again in 2009, although we're heading with a rocky start.

Here's my resolution (which a Type A plus personality like me find it hard to achieve):

1) Take things easy. Everything happens for a reason. God's grace will be sufficient to see me through.
2) Be a better wife.
3) Develop a subspecialty interest aka read more, do more audits, undertake a research project if possible.
4) Be a better daughter.
5) Keep in touch with friends who matter.
6) Be a better sister.
7) Whine less, do more, speak less harshly, do not swear.
8) Be more optimistic about life - it's not always doom and gloom. Be thankful.
9) Try to go home...oh I miss home.
10) Perfect my culinary skills.
and the last but not least resolution that I always make every year but never keep:

Strenghten my faith in Christ and try to lead a true Christian life. Easy to say...more difficult than getting the pounds stronger I believe.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009...........HOPE WE ARE ALL BLESSED IN ALL WAYS POSSIBLE, AND SEE THE GOOD IN WHATEVER ADVERSITIES THAT MAY COME.

Days leading to 2009

Xmas had been eventful. Enjoyed it tremendously..had some pictures on Xmas dinner. But, as usual I'm a delayed blogger, simply because I've been swamped again with work after Xmas.

So....post on xmas with pics coming soon (not that many will read anyway..sad)

I'm on call whole week this week..which sucks big time!
1) It's New Year's Eve today... will be expecting lots and lots of alchies tonite. Arrggh
2) We're short staffed. Last two nights had been crazy. I'm totally knacked.. who says jobs in UK is easier than 3rd World doesn't know what they're talking about.

So while peeps will be toasting and counting down to 2009, the predicted year of worst economy ever, I'll be holding the fort in the hospital. Please....don't come in! Enjoy your new year outside hospital... aint a nice place to be!

A taste of home

Entry from previous blog.

I have been craving for mom's fried yam for months. I've been looking for fresh yam for months as well. Correction..fresh and cheap yam. I just couldn't bring myself to buy one yam that cost 4 pounds (converted to almost Rm30 per yam lerrr...sim tia).
But my craving got the better of me. The yam was practically calling out to me, "Eat me...fry me....yum yum..", while I was at WingYip doing my Chinese grocery shopping.
Yam (1, approximately 0.7kg) = 4 pounds = ~Rm30
Frying whole morning = 30-45 minutes of basking myself in hot and smelly and oily fumes
Taste of home, and taste of mommy = PRICELESS

Recipe (what I remember from all those Sunday morning breakfasts in Mommy's kitchen):
Ingredients:
Yam, sliced not too thin, not too thick
Batter: Mix flour with cold tap water, enough flour and enough water to get a consistency gooey enough to coate the back of the spoon without being runny (try it yourself, you'll understand what I mean). Add salt to taste.
Method:
In a frying pan, heat enough oil to cover 1/3 of the depth of the pan.
Dip the sliced yam in the batter, lightly coating and fry till golden brown.
Serve with Lingham's chili sauce.

I was in heaven this morning.....the feeling of crispy crunchy batter with soft yam in my mouth...yummmmmyyyy

Mom's Tu Ka

Old entry from previous blog

It's the time of the year again...If I'm in Kuching now there should be lots of ghastly tong tong tong chiang music, and red decor everywhere. And..sickly cute little girls singing God knows what with sweet smiley faces. Believe it or not..I miss that!!!! No plans for CNY yet, but the same weekend we should be heading down to Glasgow, meet up with old friends, revisit our favourite Chinese restaurants...more to come.

Anyway...went to the supermarket last weekend and while walking down the aisle for meats, he confidently plonk in a huge TU KA into our shopping cart and said "You can cook TU KA rite?"
I looked at that huge piece of meat (it's not even the classic trotter that we always use for traditional TU KA, but more of the appendate above the trotter. OK, anatomy lesson..trotter is the foot, what we bought happened to be the..errrmm..thigh? The same thing I ate with Alex and Teo in Sibu I think). And tried to remember when was the last time, if ever, I cooked TU KA. A year ago? In Sarikei..over the phone with mom. Did it turn out right? Hmmmm...
So I answered, "Sure..of course." Leos with their pride...

That thing sat inside the fridge for 2-3 days. I searched the net..all came out recipes for black vinegar trotter. Very west M'sianish. Tried that before while in KL..it's nice, but just doesn't click with my childhood association with TU KA. I frantically searched for my mom. I must have called like more than ten times home (when u want them, u just can't seem to get them), and I finally reached her, she said, "What, just to ask how cook TU KA issit? So kin..." must have thought either something very good or very bad happened. LOL...
So she said.....

Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 pig's trotter (preferable the forefeet, not hindfeet. Do I look like I have a choice?)
Chinese mushrooms, halved
1 whole Old ginger, sliced or smashed (Hokkien calls it Lam Kio. It's sweet smelling and more aromatic than normal ginger. But I used normal ginger anyway)
1 bulb of garlic, whole
3-4 shallots, diced
5 Spice powder
Brown sugar (she said...agak agak, so I just poured till I think it's just right, about half a cup)
Dark soy source (3-4 spoonful)
Water
Sunflower oil/ Sesame seed oil

To do:
1) Cut the TU KA into big pieces. (This I did with great difficulty. I'm no butcher, nor do I have a butcher's knife. And I like to believe I'm pretty small size [ahem]).
2) Blanched the TU Ka pieces with boiling hot water and drain. Rub 5 spice powder on the meat, just lightly coating. Set aside.
3) In a wok, heat up sunflower oil and sesame oil. Stir fry the ginger till aromatic, then add the shallots and fry till golden.
4) Add in the meat and fry till the skin crips slightly. Set aside.
5) In a pot under low heat, melt the brown sugar with soy source and water.
6) Mix the concoction in (5) with the stir fried TU KA in a pot. Add more water to just cover all the TU KA. Add mushrooms and the whole bulb of garlic.
7) Bring to a boil for about 15-20 mins, then simmer for 1-2 hours till the skin and meat softens.
Serve with rice or buns.

I used a multi-purpose National cooker...so I just quick cook for 10 mins, and slow cook for about 2 hours.
This is not the usual black vinegar trotter...but I grew up with this taste. Mom's taste. That's one of the reason why I seldom eat out when I'm in Kuching. My mom's such a great cook. Another reason is.. there's nothing much that's nice to eat there. No offense to all Kuchingites..I'm part of the clan myself.

Our first Sio Bak

Entry from my old blog.

Just the other day we were watching Rick Stein cooking Crispy Roast Pork Belly (aka Siu Yuk aka Sio Bak) on TV. I was wondering...if an ang moh guy can do it so can two Chinese gundus. We have most of the ingredients mentioned, 'cept for pork belly, 5 spice powder and sechuan pepper. Since we were in Birmingham then, it wasn't hard to get those ingredients ;)
You see... if you live your whole life in Malaysia, or in a place where Chinese food (we're not even mentioning high class cuisine) are aplenty, you'll take them for granted. If you're uprooted to a foreign place with little choice for chinese food...you'll end up like me; cook cook cook, and get a deep sense of accomplishment.

I think if I'm ever out of job, or get tired of my vocation..I'll be a chef. That's my second calling... hmmmmm..

Look at the pics above. This is our first attempt, after researching more than 10 recipes online. Aesthetically it may not be comparable to those from Chinese restaurants, but it's yummyyyyyyy.

Recipe:
Ingredients:
Pork belly (3 layer pork) - 8 strips of 1 X 5 inches (can buy one big chunk if you can find it, we couldn't)
Seasoning (1 teaspoon of each, for each strip):
5 spice powder
Szechuan pepper, crushed
Garlic granules or finely chopped garlic
Salt
Sugar
White vinegar
Bamboo Skewers

Preparations:
1) To prepare the seasoning, on a dry wok heat up 5 spice powder, garlic granule, szechuan pepper and salt to marry the flavour. Add sugar last and after a quick stir lift it off the fire and set aside.
2) Boil 2 cups of water with 2-3 tablespoon of vinegar.
3) Scald the skin of the pork with the water-vinegar mixture. Do not scald the meat. Skew through the strip of pork to keep the skin from wrinkling.
4) Marinate the meat with (1) above, and season the skin with salt. Leave overnight in the fridge unwrapped to dry the pork well.
5) Preheat the oven to 200 centigrade. Place the pork belly on a grill rack, which is placed above the grill pan. Bake for 20 minutes.
6) After that, add water to the pan and switch to grill for another 15-20 minutes until the skin crackles.
7) Let it cool in room temperature, remove the skewer and slice. Serve with white rice and green veg.

The effect is....juicy succulent meat with crunchy skin. I don't really fancy meat that much, but I love this!
Not bad for a first attempt. We'll probably try to perfect it next time.

Andy's Curry Lamb

Entry from my old blog.



I know he can cook, but I was still pleasantly surprised at how well his curry turned out. Ok..probably my curry skills will never equal his. I'm not much of a meat eater, what more to say cooking meat dishes. This dish is not the out-of-bottle-ready-made-curry-sauce curry. On a cold winter day, this dish is just heavenly with rice or bread.
Ingredients:
Lamb fillet 400g, sliced to cubes (alternative chicken or beef)
Baby potatoes, 10 (preboiled)
Shallots, 1
Garlic, half a bulb
Milk or coconut milk (150mls)
Spices, a little of each:
Cinnamon bark, cloves, cardarmon, star aniseed, curry leaf, bay leaf, 2 stalks of lemon grass (crushed)
Curry powder
Chilli powder
Sesame seed oil
Preparation:
1) Marinate lamb with curry powder, chilli, salt and sesame seed oil, coat the meat well. Keep for 3-4 hours for the flavour to seep in.
2) In a wok, heat oil and chilli powder till fragrant. Add in all the spices as above. Once aromatic, add in garlic and shallots and stir till brown.
3) Add in the marinated lamb, constantly stirring. Pour in milk little by little to maintain the moisture.
4) Add potatoes and simmer.
5) Once both the meat and potatoes are soft, add in coconut milk and simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Dish out and serve with rice.
Enjoy! I sure did...

Christmas Turkey

One of the series of recipes from my old blog.

Recipe:
Ingredients:
The bird:
1 turkey (12 pound, free range - lean, less fat, supposedly taste better but how would I know better?)
Seasonings for the bird:
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Thyme, Sage and Rosemary (fresh or dried)
Grated Lemon and clementine zest
1 lemon juice
3-4 carrots, 3 big onions, lemon skin (whole) and 1 clementine
The stuffing:
Turkey stock - boil and simmer gizzards + neck in 1L water for about 1 hour
Cooked gizzards chopped
Bacon 10 strips
Ham 3-4 pieces
Fresh button mushrooms (as much as my husband let me, he hates mushrooms)
Croutons (2 bags)
Mixed nuts and fruits, including cranberries, finely chopped (ready mix found in supermarkets)
2 large yellow onions diced
Gravy:
Half of the turkey stock as above
Turkey drippings
Butter 125g
Flour 3-4 teaspoons

Preparations:
1) Season the bird with butter, salt, pepper, herbs and grated lemon and clementine zests. Rub the inside cavity with lemon juice and salt. Stuff in one peeled clementine. Poke the sides of the bird esp under the wings to let out the fat and juices when baking.
2) Be sure to separate the skin under the breast gently with a blunt knife and spread butter and herbs underneath the skin, end product is juicy and tender succulent breast.
3) To prepare the stuffing ( some do it the day before, I do it on the same day...lazy la so much effort spread two days somemore)
a) Pan fry bacon until crisps. Remove bacon, and while the oil is still hot in the pan, add butter. Keep on low heat. Slice bacon and set aside.
b) Add in chopped onions and fry till brown.
c) Stir in gizzards, sliced bacon, ham and mushroom and fry till soft. Add in the mix nuts and fruits
d) Add the turkey stock, and bring to boil. Salt and pepper to taste.
e) Add croutons and cook till all ingredients well blended and slightly mushy. Crack in two eggs to hold the stuffing together. Remove from heat immediately.
4) Lay the stuffing in the front and back cavities. Pack loosely. Secure the skin with a skewer, so stuffings won't fall out. Wrap the drums and wings with aluminium foil to keep in the moisture. You could wrap any remaining stuffing in an aluminium foil and bake later for about 15 mins at 170 degrees.
5) Lace the pan with aluminium foil. Lay down carrots, onions cut in halves and lemon skin over the pan.
6) Put the bird breast down on top of (5).
7) Put in a preheated oven at 220 degree celcius for 1/2 hour, then bring to 170. Cook around 30 mins per Kg of the bird + 90 mins. During the last half hour, after ensuring the bird is cooked well (poke with fork or skewer), take the turkey out and glaze with honey. Lay the bird on a metal griller above the pan. Be sure to remove the aluminium foil wrapped around the drums and wings. Turn turkey breast up and bake for another 20-30 mins until the skin is crisp and golden brown. Take the bird out and let it cool.
8) Gravy gravy gravy (now who needs gravy granules anyway???)
a) Remove any excess oil from the drippings (excellent for roast potatoes and parsnips!).
b) Crush the carrots and onion in the drippings to pulps, remove lemon skin (err...don't think that's edible).
c) In a pot melt around 200g of butter under slow heat and fold in 3-4 teaspoon of plain flour. Stir well.
d) Add the half of turkey stock, stir constantly to avoid any clumps. And then add the drippings. (don't need anymore seasonings, as the drippings are tasty enough as it is).

Viola.... turkey + stuffing (actually very yummy) and gravy. And an amazed hubby...he still couldn't believe a 'cina' girl can cook turkey. LOL...
Try this recipe out..it's not authentic kuai lou turkey though....blended to my Chinese taste buds.

Char Kueh Teow story

One of the series of recipes from my old blog.

Well, wouldn't say hubby is the handsomest guy on earth, just out of respect of millions of hunks out there. But for the fact I've fallen head over heals, and managed to maintain that feeling for 8 years...he is to me the hunk of my life.
And the question goes..why wouldn't such a guy get any wooing from girls after being alone and semi-available for 5-6 years in a foreign land? Not that there wasn't any wooing, and so I found out only after constant probing. I can get pretty annoying when I'm so persistent at times..hehe..
So the story goes... he was woed with a plate of Char Kueh Teow before. Now, who says the best way of winning over a guy isn't by his stomach?
And so began my quest to cook a nice plate of Char Kueh Teow... just to stamp my mark.

Recipe:
Ingredients:
Kueh Teow/ Flat noodles - 1 packet
Garlic finely diced - 5 gloves
Chai por ( preserved turnip) finely diced - 1 strip
Lap Cheong - 1 strip
Taugeh 2 handfuls
Spring onion - 2 stalks, chopped 1 inch
Prawns
2 eggs
Peanut oil/ Lard
Soy Sauce/ Salt/ Pepper to taste
Chili boh (optional, couldn't get it here)

1) Heat wok, add 3-4 table spoon of peanut oil/ lard (He claims that it's the secret to good Kueh Teow...I just go..yucks)
2) Stir in garlic and chai po, fry till brown
3) Add lap cheong and prawn. Add chili boh if available
4) Add Kueh Teow, and fry vigorously! unless you have those big non- stick wok.
5) Soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste ( I like mine not too dark, up to own preferance)
6) Stir in taugeh and spring onion
7) Push everything at the side of the wok, put in half a table spoon of oil and crack in the eggs. Stir until even. Dish out. Serves 2.

My...what accomplishment I felt when I saw the undisguised delight in his eyes when he spooned it down. I'm winner all this while after all....... or maybe he's smart enough to say mine's the best he'd tasted so far. Hehehe

Grandma's Lou Bak Kou

This is the first of series of recipes from my previous blog. Couldn't figure out how to import my old archive...so it'll be cut and paste job.

I miss home, especially home cooked food. We were invited to our friends' for a taste of West M'sia curry laksa. It was heaven, although I wasn't a fan of laksa before this. I guess it's just anything that reminds me of home..not even a month and I'm already terribly home sick. Anyway...I brought over Grandma's raddish cake, Teochew style. The recipe is as follows, and the secret to successful cake is...to call grandma to confirm the details!!

Ingredients:
Rice flour 2 cups
Raddish (loh pak) 2 cups, grated
Water 2 cups
Dried prawns (hey bee), a handful
Chinese dried mushroom diced, a handful
Half a lap cheong, diced
Shallots

Instructions:
1) Grate 1-2 stick of raddish, should give approx 2 cups
2) Heat oil in frying pan, and stir fry dried prawns till fragrant, then add shallots, lapcheong and mushrooms.
3) Put raddish and rice flour in caserole dish or baking pan. Pour water and gently stir till thoroughly mixed. Stir in (2) and mix.
4) Add salt and pepper to taste
5) Steam for initial 5 - 10 minutes, then stir the mixture again to ensure it is well combined. Then continue steam for another 50 minutes.
6) Let it cool and set. Served either fresh or pan fried.

Enjoy.........

AJ's 28

AJ's a big boy now...but the kid in him still hasn't disappear yet. I guess that kid in him, the enthusiasm of seeing new 'toys', the delight in a surprise, the lame but hysterical jokes...will always be a part of him. That was what attracted me to him in the first place, that was what made me laugh and fell in love.

Well, he's older, I can see. He no longer enjoys the buzz, the late nights (to think about it..he never did). We may grow older together, but I guess with him we'll always be young at heart. Cheezy...but true.

It was a busy weekend before his birthday. To top it up, most decent restaurants that we like were not open on Mondays. I managed to book a place in Le Garcon at the Bay last minute. The restaurant was empty when we arrived, defeat the purpose of booking really. Credit crunch effect....but as the night goes a couple of groups joined in.

Food was fantastic, albeit a little pricey. Well, it's French, it's once in a year, it was my baby's birthday so the heck with it. We ended the night with a nice Waitrose choc mint cake. As usual, no pics of the main course or starter...we glutons tucked in before even remembering to whipped out the camera.

I had mussels, steak and cream brulle. He has escargot, duck and crepe suzette. Truly recommend this restaurant.

Mom in London

I found out from Melia about mom's 'surprise' visit just less than 2 weeks before her scheduled arrival.
I was excited and annoyed at the same time...she didn't tell me she was coming. Excited of course, as I haven't seen her for almost 1 year already. Also annoyed...the element of surprise was sweet really. But I could do with more notice as it was difficult for me to shift my schedule last minute.
I believe my mom's intention was to surprise me, at the same time I suppose mom being mom didn't want to trouble me. Still...mother came all the way ler...takkan don't go meet her up rite? Lucky Melia had the sense to let me know. Imagine Mom arriving in Heathrow...and rang me..and say..HI WE"RE HERE..WANT TO MEET UP? Siau...already it took me 1 week's planning just to get down to London.
Long story cut short:
She and Ee Ee missed their flight. Came 1 day later. Andy, Shaun and I were galavanting in London aimlessly, but managed to gorge on our cravings for M'sian and Chinese food. We had a nice time staying in a cozy, tastefully done 3 floor apartment in Central London (although AJ was snoring like a mad train the whole nite and I had to sneak to the living room to have some peace).
And I only managed to see mom for about 4 hours. 4 HOURS! well...I guess better than nothing.
Mom hasn't change at all. Still slim as always (AJ always say if I inherit her genes he'll be happy to grow old with me). Considering this is her first ever trip she was holding extremely well even despite her jet lag and the biting cold. I really wish I had more time with her..so much to tell her...so much to show her.
Too bad I couldn't shift my night rota that week. Else I'd been in Paris with her. How I wish...
Anyway...she must be quite jinxed with travelling. Dah la missed flight from KL-London. Apparently both of them (She and my Ee Ee) were stuck in Paris. God knows what went wrong with the bookings....flight was cancelled. Luckily managed to get another plane home from Amsterdam..albeit 2 days later.
ATTA MOM....first ever trip and you've covered LONDON, PARIS, BRUSSELS and AMSTERDAM.
BOOHOOHOO.....I also want to go!!!! No money to go how?

My blog has moved to a new home..FINALLY

I've been using Friendster blog for a long time..but lately I've been finding lots of problems so much so that I stopped blogging for a while.

I should've done this earlier..I know.

Well....

I welcome myself to this blogsphere. I welcome everyone else that is to stumble to my page.