Monday, February 27, 2012

Stay Home Sunday

Ahhh... its nice to wake up late on Sun ... NOT! ... I woke up early and unable to fall asleep after that.  Since I'm wide awake, we (me + hubby) went breakfast with mil.  Not much choice lah so we settled for pratas ... after that went NTUC, do our marketing cos we had guest later sun afternoon. 


Before I went marketing, I've googled a few recipes. Yup ... google ...I cannot cook well so every time i want to cook something I have never try before, I google it heeh ... yes! Just google it and you can find everything and anything.  I found Rozzan by googling hee hee .... Though it is a simple recipe, this is my first time trying this recipe.  Mum call it Bihun goreng and a friend of mine, Yana call it Mee Birthday.  I find it funny hee hee and its quite true cos I realised that they serve Bihun Goreng (Fried Bihun) aka Mee Birthday at Birthday parties. So I decided to call it Mee Birthday too.  





Ingredients:
1 packet of Bihun (Soak in hot water and drained excess water)
7-8 clove garlic (blend)
6 shallots (blend)
300 gm prawns (clean and deveined)
300 gm squid (clean and cut)
3-4 pcs fish cake (sliced)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp pepper
salt
oil
fried shallots -garnish
omelette - garnish

Methods:
Heat up oil.  Fry the blended ingredients. Constant stirring it turns yellow.
Add in sotong, fishcake, mix and stir 1-2 mins and add prawns.
Season it with oyster sauce, sesame oil, salt and mix well.
Add pepper and bihun.  Mix well.
Sprinkle fried onions and strips of omelette to serve
  


I deep fry some sausages to go with the mee.  Hope my guests like it.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Beautiful Sunday

We were expecting visitors but they called to said that they were not coming.  The whole family were not feeling well, poor thing.  Its tough to have family members falling sick one after another.  So we stayed home cos we did not plan to go out.  I cooked ayam masak merah for lunch.  I was planning to bake for my visitors, since they were not coming, I kept everything in the fridge heeh... Lazy me.
Ouh ya and we need a new rice cooker cos ours' spoiled liao... haiz.


Ayam masak Merah
Ingredients:
1/2kg boneless chicken (clean add salt and tumeric powder and fry)


Blended Ingredients:
1 cup dried chilies
1 thumb ginger

3 cloves garlic 

1 red onion



1 red onion (sliced)

Lime leaf (I used lime zest)
1/2 cup tomato sauce
season with salt and sugar

Oil for frying



Methods:
Heat oil, pan fry chicken (half cook) and put aside
Saute sliced onions once soft add in the blended ingredients (constant stirring, until you can see oil come out from the sides)

Add in salt, sugar, tomato sauce and lime leaf (i used lime zest)
Mix well and add the half cook chicken in.
Mix well cook until the gravy is slightly reduced

This is my mom's recipe. 

After lunch we watched tv.  It was a sunny Sunday .... and ... Esa suggested we go for a shoot. And we did lol ... so much for a stay at home Sunday... I had film to finish anyway.  I brought my fisheye 2 and superheadz.  Esa brought his Fed 5B and LCA+.  We took the MRT to Punggol.

We walked to the waterway.  I'm so excited cos there's a lot you can capture ... father-daughter cycled ... mom and kids kite-flying ... kite-flying enthusiast flew huge kites.  At the sides there's a man giving away FREE kites ... so we took and play ... so random ... rite??!! ... it was fun ... after that we continued our walk and shoots.

We went to the water playground. So many kids!!!! ... families with they picnic mats, food, bicycles, bathing suits ... wow ... the last time we were here it was quite dead ...guessed now people get to know about it so it was quite packed.  I had so much fun ... I finished my 2 roll of films so we decided to go home.

We went NTUC to get some stuff ... and hmmm ... I think I should do baking lah since I won't be cooking dinner.  I baked Pepperoni Pizza Puffs. But this time round there's no pepperoni at home so I substituted it with hotdogs.  I cut it into small cubes. 



This recipe was taken from Kirbie's Cravings

Ingredients:
171g cup flour

3/4 tsp baking powder
200ml milk
1 egg
1 1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar and mozzarella)
4 ounces chopped pepperoni (or hotdogs)
Directions
1. Grease a mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, milk, egg, cheese, and pepperoni, stirring until completely mixed.  Spoon batter into the prepared mini-muffin cups about 2/3 full.
3. Bake in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Serve while warm.

So we had puffy for dinner.  I was blog-hopping when I was The Kitchen Witch's blog. went to the kitchen took out everything ... ahah ... I have all the ingredients ... so another round of baking for me.


  • 1 1/2  cups plus 2 tbs. all purpose flour, divided
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 or 3 bananas) (I omit)
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/3 plus 2 tbs. butter, melted and divided
  • 1 1/2 cups granola, divided
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375F/190C.  
Lightly grease 12 muffin cups or line with muffin paper liners.  
In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  

In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter.  
Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until moistened.  
Then stir in the  granola, and chocolate chips.  
Do not over mix.  
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tbsp. flour, cinnamon and melted butter.  
Then stir in 1/2 cup granola.  
Sprinkle topping over muffins and gently press into batter.
Bake in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of muffin comes out clean.

This recipe is super easy and fast.  After all that it perfumed the whole kitchen with cinnamon's smell lol ... I brought to office cos I think its nice to have muffins for breakfast.  Definitely nicer to consume while its warm cos of the melted chocolate chip.  Yummy goodness.  
Sunday was beautiful and fruitful too.  See you soon Sunday!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Once a Upon a Lomo

I'm turning 1 soon ... in the lomo world ... LOL!

How it started?


23 Jan 2011: I followed hubby, Hakimbo &Izad for a lomo-shoot ... havin no clue what this lomo thing was all about.  All the 3 boys were armed with their film cameras. Esa did not own a film camera so he loaned one from Hakimbo, a yellow Blackbird Fly toy camera.




BBF: The Blackbird, Fly, Twin Lens Reflex 35mm Plastic Camera.


We started from Kampung Buangkok went to Bukit Timah Saddle Club and ended at Keppel Bay Marina. I was awed ... I didn't think Esa would ever bring me to such places ... It was an eye opener for me.


Kampung Buangkok:
Kampong Buangkok is the last surviving kampong in mainland Singapore. The land was acquired in 1956 from Mr Huang Yu Tu and evolved into a kampong. It was initially a swampy piece of land with only 5-6 homes. By the 1960's, it housed about 40 families. The land area used to be 21460m². The land area has shrunken in size to 12248.1m². ~ Wikipedia 


Bukit Timah Saddle Club
It was my first time looking at real life horses ... and they were huge I tell you ... My favourite was 'Murphy'.  It looked majestic with black and white patches (like a cow) and long furry legs?




 Marina @ Keppel Bay
It's where rich people spend their leisure time with friends and family and hosted exclusive events.  We were there to look at the yachts and took lots of pix ... The best part of it was there no crowd ... The surrounding was peaceful.


and so the boys start snapping away ... I took photos too ... nice photos with my trusty iphone ... hee hee ... Looking at them shooting from different angles, I followed. 


So I thought thats the end of my 'lomo' shoots with the boys.  I enjoyed myself but I don't think film is my thing. I was looking back at all the photos I took.  Why I decided to use film? When I decided that I enjoy using film than digital? Why the switch?


I used to take self-portrait (I'm guilty) Lol! ... not happy, delete, take again ... till I'm satisfied with it. hmmm ... not fun leh ... 


Anyway ... week passed by ... then months ... We didn't talk about taking pictures much. and Izad brought up this question ... eh you all wanna join Peek! Scavenger Hunt? hmmm ... Hubby was supper excited and I tagged along. Click here to view photos.


I loaned a film camera from Fad, Franka AF 300 and used Kodak 400 TMAX BW. It was super fun lor.  Because of the time duration given, we had to run around abit and since it started to rain when we were doing our hunt, we got wet heeh! Not everyday you get play in the rain ... took photo with strangers ... danced in back alley ... posed next to a RED car that was not yours ... It was crazy ... hilarious ... fun ... exciting like crazy ... I said crazy twice hahaha ... So I snapped away ... They did not tell me that they will be using my roll ... first of all I am not 1isted as a participant 2nd that was my first time using a film camera, half of the time I ask for help ... why cannot crank ... why cannot press to realise that I did not open lens cover.  and they want to submit my film!!!!! that's CRAZY i tell you. I freaked out a little ... they had to use my film cos one of the member had not finished snapping. I was so worried it they lose then they have me to blamed.  Anyway after submitting the film I bought my 1st film toy camera, Superheadz Olive San Wide Lens. The day came where the photos were back ... I was surprised.  The photos were not bad.  I was happy its kinda stupid and over-reacting lah...


and my journey begin with films cameras ... 

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Orange Juice

You must be thinking why the juice... hmmm ... 
there 2 miserable oranges in my fridge since sunday and I just cannot stand it cos I know nobody gonna eat it so juice it is ...


Orange Juice
Ingredients
Water + Sugar + Screw pine (sugar syrup)
Squeeze 2 oranges

Methods:
Mix the orange juice and syrup 
Add in a little bit of water not too much are it will be so diluted
Serve chill

Feelin' Chicky?

Erm ... not feeling too well ... and not in the mood to blog. I'll just share the recipes aite.



btw ... this is mil's recipe and my hubby's favourite.  So I have to know how to cook it.  Getting better every time I cook it =D ... Alhamdulilah
Ayam Balado
Ingredients
chicken (Meat/Other part of the bird)
salt
lime
blended ingredients
red chili
chili padi
garlic
onion

salt
chopped coriander

Method:
Mix salt, lime and meat for a few mins.
Half cook the chicken
Oil for frying 
Add the blended ingredient.
Masak sampai garing =D
Add salt, and chicken 
Cook until the chicken is fully cook
Garnish it with chopped coriander



I miss my teh-O iced lychee/longan from Tang Tea House since I can not go anywhere, I make do with what I have at home.

Teh-O Es Limao
Ingredients:
Sugar + Water + Screw pine (Sugar Syrup)
Lipton Tea bags
Lime juice

Method:
Mix water and sugar to make sugar syrup and heat it till the sugar dissolve. (put it aside to cool)
Add hot water to the tea bag (i used 1 tea bag) and wait for 2 to 3 mins (if you want a stronger tea then wait longer)
Add 3 to 4 tbsp of the sugar syrup (that was put aside to cool) to the tea mix well 
Add cold water and lime juice
Serve chill


Being a javanese extract (that is what they call us here) I loooove Tahu and Tempeh goreng

Tofu: pan fry or deep fry.  Fry till golden brown

Sambal Kicap
Ingredients:
4 big Red Chillies
5 Chilli Padi
3-4 cloves Garlic
Kicap (sweet)
Lime juice

Method:
Blend all the ingredients.

Sambal kicap is a dipping sauce for my tahu goreng heeh ...

What happen if you have left over of Sabsuka?

I don't often cook and I realised that I miscalculate stuff ... so hmmm ... instead of using 1/2 of 300g of mince meat ... I used everything ... therefore ... the left overs heeh ... anyway since I dowan to give 'Kak Pah' (is tong sampah : rubbish bin), I tweak it abit. Heat the sabsuka add in more tomato sauce. Boiled about 2 cups of pasta of you choice. Pour over the sabsuka (revised) gravy on the pasta top it of with grated parmesan cheese ... ta-da ... new dish. heehe




Monday, February 13, 2012

Nasi Goreng Kampong and Sabsukaa

I took leave today cos I foresee I'll be exhausted since I was out the whole day yesterday.  Had breakfast and bowling with lovely cousins and attended a lomography workshop. Yeah definitely tiring.  I'm glad I took leave today. 


Not so good is that I'm still having flu and its sooooo irritating ... Anyway it did not dampen my spirit to cook ... yeah I guess.  I try to cook when I'm on leave lah.


Today I decided to cook Nasi Goreng Kampong. Cos the 'Boss' requested for it yesterday and since the ingredients are available from the NTUC ... Nasi Goreng it is.  Yesterday I saw a few posting of Sabsuka on Instagram, so I decided to cook that too.  NAFSU!!! tsk ... tsk ... tsk ... 




Nasi Goreng Kampong

Ingredients:
1 day rice

Blend ingredients:
Fresh Chilies
Chili Padi
1 garlic
1 1/2 onions
belachan

optional:
sliced squid
sliced fishcake
shredded chicken
scramble egg

salt, pepper, oyster sauce

Fried shallots to garnish

Method:
Saute blended ingredients for 5 to 10 mins
Season it with salt pepper, oyster sauce
Add the optional ingredients
Mix and cook well
Add rice, mix well cook for 5 to 10 mins 
Garnish with scramble egg and friend shallots




Sabsuka


Ingredients:
1/2 kg minced meat (i used thinly sliced beef)
1 cinnamon stick
1 large onion (diced)
1 large onion (blended)
2 cloves garlic (blended)
1/4 thumb ginger (blended)
1 bowl of chili paste
2 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 bowl tomato sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 bowl tomato paste
2 tbsp chili sauce
2 tomatoes (diced)
2 cups water
1 tbsp Ghee (i used EVOO)
Black pepper powder
Coriander leaves
 fried shallot

Method:
Mix the onion, ginger, garlic and black pepper powder to your minced meat leave it to rest.
Heat cooking pot and fried the chili paste and cinnamon stick. About 5-10 mins add in your minced meat (which i used sliced meat - time to cook a lil bit longer).
Add in diced onions, tomato paste, chili and tomato sauce, cumin powder and water
Once the minced meat half-cooked, add Ghee (i added EVOO). For garnishing add in fried shallot and coriander leaves.
Serve fried egg with Sabsuka or either mix it in the Sabsuka (individual preference)



So after all the cooking ... its time to scrub the kitchen ... fuuuh I'm exhausted. When will I be able to be tai-tai ... hahah fat chance especially in Singapore pfft.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

I am so sad ... only to realize that all my food photos are gone.  Nope I did not upload photos to picasa therefore its all gone now.  My last update was about 2 months back.  Since I did not update my blog frequently, I did not notice that all the photos are gone until recently ... haiz ... 

So ... from now on I will try to update often ... meaning cook more often heeh ...