my favourite pressie this year!

SJ gave me my xmas + farewell pressie today. i'm not leaving but he is... in fact, it would be so sad for me next year to come to the office and not see him sitting next to me. sigh, no more bitching buddy.

a beautiful leopard print pony hair kate spade baggy... ah! definitely ties with the bread maker for number one (SJ was part of the bread maker gifting team)

then again, i think my fierce little handbag takes top spot. i love it.

bread part 4

we want bread, we want bread... or at least that's what i imagine the crowd screams. (ok no comments smarty pants, about any voices in my head!)

bread maker experiment part 4 - basic white loaf. sliced length wise for dramatic looking pieces of bread :) my favourite gift this year.

bailey

very cute cat owned by mr & mrs C. recently there's a row of cat sitting for friends. i have to feed him on the weekend.

i'll be away soon and will miss my smelly dog. hope no dramas happen like last year - when my brother lost the keys on new years' eve and there was a dramatic hunt followed by locksmith endeavour which ended at the stroke of midnight. the door opened the dog howled.

what a horrid new years' eve for my poor brother. all this when i was blissfully unaware & away...

breville bread experiment #3

this is the third loaf i've made - a basic milk bread. nice crumb and texture! i must say this machine is genius, it is truly idiot proof. all i did was buy and measure ingredients, dump it in and three hours later... voila!

there's also a jam making setting, with a plastic paddle that churns the fruit and sugar. used it to make blackberry jam. sure takes the labour out of constant stirring to avoid burning when you make jam on the stove top.

i love my machine. it is genius, it does everything. short of washing up and walking the dog.

ten days to christmas

christmas means that we made it through the year, phew. and that we get another year coming up to do all the stuff that we like to do. i like christmas.

the breville has landed / the camera is out of order

camera issues - one snaps but cannot be downloaded. the other just won't snap. severe malfunctions.

anyway, the breville has landed! my sweetie friends got me a bread maker for my b-day! that is by far the cutest kitchen gadget ever, looks like a mini
desktop washing machine! wish i could upload a picture of a nice loaf, guess i need to buy a new camera. (above) that's YL checking out the machine at the gift giving "ceremony"- behold, the BBM 300

so far so good, two experiments turned out well. i have forced them to eat up 2 huge (1 kg) loaves... the long suffering friends bought the machine, so now they bear the consequences! let them eat bread!

and it looks like we might have made it. looks like we've made it to the end

tinned tomato soup

indeed, canned tomato soup is the second wonder of industrialisation. second only to air conditioning. i love it. this was a posh wednesday night version - with a spoonful of chopped tomatoes (also from a can) and a handful of baby spinach dumped on top

braised quails eggs

it's been a long while since i wrote here. been crazy busy with work and quite a few trips. all the events, standing and excessive walking has resulted in an injured right foot with a suspected fracture on the fifth metatarsal. after stumping about the office for 2 days like a peg-legged pirate, i gave up. so i'm stuck home feeling sorry for myself. been craving some nice homey-nostalgic dishes. so decided to whip up braised eggs with pork. it's usually belly pork, but given the hardship of hobbling to the supermarket, i used pork ribs.

the smell of soya sauce, warming spices thickening over the stove is fantastic. reminds me of being a kid, and this dish was part of my paternal grandma's limited repetoire. it was almost like a little game we played - she'd be all dressed up and ready to go out for the day to play Chinese bridge, "see sek" (literally, "four colours" - the cards are thin and long like sponge fingers, with a full hand fanned out, it did look like the players were holding paper fans in front of their faces). grandma would ask me what i wanted for dinner - and invariably i'd reply "tau you bak". and she's ask, "what about fried chicken wings"? of course the answer was "yes".

braised pork was easy, slap it on the stove on slow or toss it in the slow cooker, come home and it's done. chicken wings are marinated in a pinch of sugar and light soy, stuffed into the fridge. return triumphant from your card game and deep fry them. easy peasy! i never got sick of eating that bowl of rice drizzled with brown sauce with two chicken wings perched on top; while sitting on the garden swing.

Braised Quails Eggs with Pork

12 Quails Eggs - hardboiled. bring a saucepan to boil, lower to gentle simmer. slide the eggs in gently. keep the heat on for 3 minutes. turn off and cover. let eggs sit for 30 mins. drain and peel carefully.

Braising Liquid

80 ml Dark Soy Sauce

60 ml Water

1 tbsp Oyster Sauce

2 tbsp Chinese Wine (Hua Tiao)

1 tsp Mirin (optional)

1 tsp Brown Sugar

4 large cloves garlic, whole

pinch of Cumin Seeds & Cinnamon Powder

1 Star Anise

4 Corriander Stems

2 inch piece of Ginger

1 inch piece candied Tangerine, rinsed

200 gms Pork Belly or Ribs, scalded

place all ingredients in pot and bring to gentle simmer. leave it uncovered for 10 mins, then cover and continue to simmer for another 45 mins. turn off heat, place eggs into braising liquid and leave to soak for at least 30 mins, till coloured by liquid. shake pot from time to time, to ensure even coating. remove eggs, and bring liquids to a simmer on low for another 30 mins. serve over white rice, with a scattering of corriander leaves on top.

long weekend come and gone

thank goodness that we have long weekends due to public holidays for each month to the end of the year. again, did lots of laundry and cooking, but no cleaning. turning into a lazy homebody.

friday night: squid stuffed with smoked oysters & chickpeas with pasta and pine nuts. i kind of invented this one ( or maybe not? who knows what the subconsious absorbs).
2 squids - cleaned, gutted and skinned, left whole (chop tentacles and flaps into small pieces, and add to stuffing)
1 egg yolk
100 gm breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic chopped finely
200 gms smoked oysters, chopped (john west canned ones are good)
1 tbsp olive oil
100 gm chickpeas, drained and rinsed from the can - mush them roughly
mix it all up and stuff each squid till 3/4 full - resist the urge to ovestuff, when the squid cooks it shrinks, so the last thing you need is stuffing all over the place. skewer shut with a toothpick. bring a small pan of water to boil, and lower to a gentle simmer. pop squids in for about 3 mins. drain and pat dry with paper towel.

toast your pine nuts, cook your pasta till al dente. heat up 2 tbsp butter till foamy, add squids and roll about pan for 1 min. remove and set aside. add 1 tbsp olive oil, drained pasta, lots of blackpepper and sea salt. toss well. top with sliced squids and sprinkles of pine nuts.

saturday night: flank steak and mini-rosti.
my beloved carb - potatoes. bought a new grater the other day, so absolutely had to try it out.
2 medium potatoes - grated
1 egg yolk
80 gm bread crumbs
blackpepper
lots of sea salt
sprinkle sea salt over grated potatoes, toss through. set aside on a drainer in the fridge for 1 hr. remove and squeeze excess water from potatoes. place on kitchen towel and pat dry. mix in the seasoning. shape into small patties - i'm less ambitions in flipping a big potato pancake. shallow fry in hot oil for about 2 mins each side. this makes about 6 flattened golf ball sized mini rostis.