Treatment 6 Dec 2010

Orange, not a very flattering colour on the teeth! Will not choose colours like orange or yellow again, because it made the teeth look really dirty! I look like an alien when I take pictures at night too :(

Treatment this month was painful. Could not bite any food at all for the next 2 to 3 days. And I think this is the ugliest stage since treatment began. I think the teeth is starting to re-align and so now I only have 4 front teeth, then gaps on both sides. I hope I will not become a rabbit soon, with only 2 front teeth then gaps >.< hahahah...

Recipe for Black Pepper Prawns

Ingredients:

500 grams of medium tiger or sea prawns, deveined and removed shells with its head and tail remained intact
1 red capsicum, cored and diced in chunks
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced/ wedged
2 stalks of curry leaves, removed from its stems and use only the leaves
1 teaspoon of chicken granule
1/2 teaspoon of grounded black pepper
1/4 teaspoon of potato starch (I used corn flour instead)
3 tablespoons of black pepper sauce
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
1 tablespoon of olive oil (for heating wok)
1 tablespoon of butter

Method:
1) Use a pair of kitchen shears to cut a slit at the back of each prawn. Remove vein, followed by removing shell with its head and tail remained intact.

2) Season prawns with chicken granule, black pepper, for 10 minutes.

3) Heat wok with olive oil over medium fire. Melt butter in heated wok. Add garlic, onion and curry leaves.

4) Sprinkle some potato starch on the seasoned prawns. Place prawns in wok in one layer to slightly sauté both sides of each prawn. Add capsicum and stir fry to combine, for 2 minutes.

5) Add black pepper sauce and stir fry to combine well, for another 1 - 2 minutes. Heat off and dish up. Serve with steamed butter rice or olive oiled spaghetti.










Cooked this for the Christmas office potluck on 16 Dec!

My wish for the longest time...

I really really wish to have a tattoo, just 1 small one would do.....

Finally, but big hole in pocket....

I've wanted a tennis bracelet for the longest time. And I finally got it!! Color E, VVS1 clarity. It was on 40%+10% discount. Good quality and discount, so grabbed!

Recipe for Wantan

Ingredients A for filling:
300g minced meat
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of fish sauce (鱼露)
2 teaspoon of Chinese rice wine
Dash of salt and white pepper
1 tablespoon of corn flour
1 packet of wonton wrappers
1 egg white, or just clear water (for sticking purpose)

Optional:
2 tablespoons of fresh fish paste (I added prawns, diced)

Garnish:
Scallion/ spring onion, julienned
Sprinkle of ground white pepper

Ingredients B for soup base:
50 gram of dried anchovies aka ikan bilis, with head and internal parts removed
100ml of chicken /ikan bilis stock (or 1 chicken or ikan bilis stock cube)
Sprinkle of salt and pepper to taste
1 pot of water, 50% filled (about 1000ml)

Method:
1) Seasoned mince meat with all condiments listed A (and fish paste, if opted). Combine well and set aside, or you may leave it refrigerated for 1 – 2 hour marinating time.

2) Spread a single wrapper square across the palm of one hand, heap a small clump of filling with a teaspoon and place in the center.

3) Dip your clean index finger of another hand with egg white or plain water, run your finger across the wrapper’s inner side (area closer to the filling) in order to moisten and seal the wrapper.

Detailed steps:
During the sealing process, first, ligtly ‘press out’ the air inside the half-folded wrapper (if using square sheet, fold into triangle shape, from one corner diagonally to another corner), so that the filling may adhere to the wrapper completely and also to avoid rupturing the wonton from internal pressure when boiled. Then, use finger tips to simply compress the edges between the filling and excessive wrapper to seal up the opening (remember to damp it first). Lastly, ‘close’ your fist to ‘crumple’ the whole wonton a little, resulted an irregular shapping.

4) To make soup base: Boil a large pot of water over high heat. When water boiled, make sure the heat is turned to low flame, before putting in the wonton. Boil wonton till 90% cooked (wonton skins should turn to light and almost whitish appearance when almost cooked) and all excessive flour on the wrappers are completely dissolved. Wontons will appear 'crumpled' due to slight shrinkage, and float up to the surface of the soup, when it is done. So, heat off once it shows all these signs (smile). Drain and set aside.

5) Boil another pot of water over high heat. When boiled, add in dried anchovies and chicken stock cube. Reduce heat to medium-low fire simmer for 30 minutes.

6) Add in salt and pepper to taste. Then, place 90% cooked wonton into the boiling soup 1 minute before heat off. Garnish and serve hot.

Recipe for Char Siew

Ingredients
500 gram of long strips pork shoulder cut (or 3-layered belly)
1 small cucumber, sliced (as side dish)

Seasoning:
1 teaspoon of ground white pepper
1 teaspoon of light soy sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce (thick soy sauce)
1 tablespoon of honey
5 tablespoon of sugar (add more, if desired)
1 teaspoon of Hua Diao Rice Wine
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
½ teaspoon of Zedoary, grounded, or in 3 - 4 small pieces, lightly mashed / Or, 1 teaspoon of ginger juice.)

Method:
Use stove-cooking:
1) Cut pork into 2 long strips. Place them in a large bowl.

2) Combine well with all seasoning ingredients. Dredge pork strips with the seasoning mixture, and marinate for 1 - 2 hours.

3) Preheat a large wok/ saucepan over medium fire, place strips into the hot wok. Keep remaining marinating sauce in the bowl for later. There is no need to add oil so that the pork can caramelize better.

4) Roast pork strips for 10 min each side, or until both side are caramelized (glazed) and well roasted. Remove from wok.

5) Put remaining sauce into the wok, and bring to a boil. Reserve it as Char Siew sauce for later.

6) Thinly slice pork strips when they are cooled, and serve with Char Siew sauce, and sliced cucumbers.

Use oven-baking:
1) Preheat oven to 250ºC.

2) Line baking dish with aluminum foil, and place pork strips on it.

3) Place baking dish in the center of preheated oven.

4) Bake one side for 10 minutes. Turn pork strips over and bake for another 10 min, or until caramelized.

5) Remove from oven. Thinly slice when strips are cooled. Serve with Char Siew sauce, and cucumbers.



Char siew is surprisingly easy to make!!!

LV Dress

LV Cruise Collection 2011 Vintage Dress.

I LOVE!!

My first 2010 Christmas present

...from Faith all the way from Melbourne!! I LOVE!!

Recipe for Beef Hor Fun

Ingredients

300g flank steak, sliced thinly into bite sized pieces

2 tablespoons corn flour starch, divide into 2 portions
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon soya sauce
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Chinese wine
2 teaspoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons oil, divide into 2 portions
1kg fresh hor fun (wide rice noodles), separated into individual strands
1 tablespoon dark soya sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
500ml (2 cups) water
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
White pepper

Method
1. Toss beef with 1 tablespoon corn flour, 1 teaspoon sesame oil and 1 teaspoon Chinese wine, and set aside to marinate.

2. In a small bowl, combine remaining corn flour with 2 tablespoons water and mix into a slurry.

3. In a large wok, heat 2 tablespoons oil until smoking hot. Add the hor fun and stir fry until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the dark soya sauce and stir fry for another 2 minutes to evenly colour. Turn onto a serving platter.

4. In the same wok, heat the remaining oil over high heat until it shimmers. Add the garlic and beef and stir and cook for 1 minute. It's ok if the meat is still pink.

5. Add the water. Stir in the remaining soya sauce, Chinese wine, sesame oil, and oyster sauce, and sugar, and mix well. Bring to a boil.

6. Pour in the corn flour slurry to thicken the gravy, stirring constantly. Add the kai lan and cook for about 2 minutes, or until it thickens.

7. Pour the gravy over the hor fun and sprinkle with pepper. Serve immediately with pickled green chillies and soya sauce.

Treatment 8 Nov 2010

Green is the colour :))

Recipe for Butter Cake

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 (171g) cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

Put all ingredients into a big bowl and use an electric hand mixer to blend all ingredients until smooth. Grease and flour a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and transfer the batter into the baking pan. Bake at 177°C for 50 – 60 minutes or until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.










Very easy cake to bake. Just mix everything together. Wanted to bake something but was too lazy...so went online to find this easy recipe :)

Recipe for Fried Chicken Wing

Ingredients

8 chicken wings
2 chicken stock cubes (鸡精块), crushed
2 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of Hua Diao rice wine (花雕酒)
4 tablespoon of cornstarch

Cooking oil for frying

Method
1) Wash chicken wings with salt water. Halves the wings at joints. Discard wing tips, or keep it, as desired.

2) Place wings in bowl, add in oyster sauce, rice wine and crushed chicken stock cubes. Combine well. Dredge each wing with seasoning mixture, using hand to ensure whole wing is well covered with the seasoning.

3) Cover wings in bowl with cling wrap, and marinate in refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or overnight, like I did.

4) Drizzle cornstarch to briefly coat marinated wings. Heat wok with oil over high fire. When oil is hot, bring down heat to medium fire. Fry drumlets and mid-joints separately, for about 5 minutes each time, or until golden browned.

5) Remove wings from wok, and drain on kitchen towel. Serve.

Healthier method - I used shallow-frying instead of deep frying method. Simply fry one side of the chicken, and then turn over to the other side. Fry both sides till well done!



The chicken wings are really yums. I like!

Recipe for Mee Rebus

Ingredients:

1 kg yellow noodles (scalded)

500 g beansprout (scalded)

Garnishes:

sliced green chillies

6 hard boiled eggs

4 pieces fried beancurd

fried sliced shallots

Ingredients for gravy:

1 cup fermented bean paste (washed and drained)(I used spicy bean paste)

1 cup dried shrimps (geragau)

1 cup peanuts

6 buah keras

1 piece blachan (toasted and pounded)

1 cup water

4 tbsp flour

1/2 cup cooking oil

Ingredients to ground:

1 inch ginger

1 inch blue ginger (lengkuas)

5 cloves garlic

2 stalks lemon grass (serai)

30 shallots

20 dried red chillies

Method for gravy:

1) Fry peanuts and buah keras in a little oil and blend together with fermented bean paste, dried shrimps and blachan.

2) Heat 1/2 cup cooking oil and fry grounded ingredients until aromatic and well cooked.

3) Add in blended ingredients from (1) and fry for a few minutes more.

4) Add in 80 oz water or stock and let it boil.

5) Thicken stock with 1 cup water mixed with 4 tbsp flour and stir until gravy is thick (dilute according to thickness).

6) Add salt and sugar to taste.

To serve:

Mix scalded noodles with some beansprouts and pour some gravy over it. Garnish with egg slices, sliced green chillies, a cut lime, some taupok and fried shallots. Add a dash of black soya sauce.

- I only added about 2 tablespoons of oil. Healthy!!

More longchamps!

New tries

Have been attending the other classes conducted by Calvin.

Abs and Tone - this one is a killer for the abs. Incoporate weights and resistant ropes for strength and toning for arms and legs. I like. Got cramps after my first class. The only down side is that the pace of the class is rather slow as it focuses on strength and tone and not cardio.

Cardio Sculpt - something like body step for the cardio, incoporating weights for sculpt. I like! Pace is fast, no drink breaks in between! The music just goes on and on and on!

Sculpt and Stretch - Class divided into half of cardio sculpt and half stretching. I like too. Pace is fast during the sculpt part of the class. No drinks break! Just that I felt the stretch part of the class could be shortened so that can have more time for sculpting. I must also mention that the stretching exercises are not easy, something like body balance. OMG!

Fat Burning Circuit Training - Different exercises at different stations. Do not really like this class as it feels very individual and hence gets bored at times. Calvin just goes around each station to correct us. But, do not undermine the various exercises. Short period of time at each station, but enough to kill.

Have yet to try Total Body Sculpt.

Chwee Kuay again!

Chwee Kuay again! Yumz! :)

Recipe for Sukiyaki Beef Soup

Cooked this yesterday, inspired by lunch at Sakae Sushi on Thursday! :)

Self-improvised recipe and I must say that it is very successful! :)

Ingredients:
- Sukiyaki beef
- Dashi paste
- Sukiyaki sauce
- Mushrooms (eg: golden, shitake, chinese etc etc)
- Japanese fishcake
- Crab stick
- Egg
- Toufu
- Carrot
- Shallots

Methods:
1. Soak the chinese mushroom to soften it if using. Keep the water for use later.
2. I used the hotpot to cook this. Add a little oil and fry the shallots until golden and fragrant.
3. Add 2 cups of water. Add in the mushrooms, carrots, fishcake, crab stick and carrot.
4. Add 2 tablespoon of dashi paste. Add some mushroom water. Add Sukiyaki sauce. Taste to ensure that soup it tasty enough. Cover to boil for 1 to 2 minutes or until carrot is soft.
5. Add sukiyaki beef slices. Crack in egg.
6. Serve immediately.

Receipe for Shortbread Fingers

Baked this last week. Very successful attempt :)

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup cornflour
- 1/3 cup rice flour
- 2/3 cup plain flour
- 1/3 cup icing sugar
- 200g unsalted butter, chopped

1. Sift flour and sugar into large mixing bowl, add butter. Use fingertips, rub butter into the flour for 3 minutes or until the mixture is fine and crumbly. Press mixture together to form a soft dough.
2. Press mixture to form 18 x 27cm rectangle. Rough up surface with a grater or mark with fork.
3. Cut into half lengthways, then into 2cm strips.
4. Arranged on tray, 3cm apart.
5. Bake in pre-heat oven, 180 degrees, for 20 mintues or until firm and lightly golden.

Recipe for Chwee Kuay

Made this last week. The chai bor was a too salty as I did not read the packing properly and hence did not know that it needed to be soaked first :P!

Rice Cake Mixture

200g Rice Flour
2T Tapioca Flour
31/2 cups Water
2T Vegetable Oil
2t Salt

1.Mix the flours together in a large bowl, pour in 1 1/2 cups cold water and mix well.
2.To this mixture, add 2 cups of boiling water followed by the oil.
3.Season.
4.Heat the moulds in the steamer. This is done so they mixture doesn’t stick.

Preserved Radish Topping (Chai Po)

100g Preserved Radish
2 Chinese Sausages
5 or 6 Shitake Mushrooms
2 Fresh Red Chillies
1 Head of Garlic
Light Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil

1.Finely dice all the ingredients. If you are using dried shitake mushrooms, a quicker way to reconstitute them is to simply boil them for around 10 to 15 minutes.
2.Heat some (read A LOT) of cooking oil in a wok until smoky. The amount of oil may alarm you but this topping calls for a lot of it.
3.Add in the chinese sausage first and fry until fragrant, push to one side and add in the garlic.
4.Turn down the heat and add the rest of the ingredients. The topping is done when it has reduced in size, is beautifully crispy and the oil that was absorbed has been released again. This process takes about 20 minutes. Just before it is done, season with the soy sauce and sesame oil to taste – keeping in mind that the radishes themselves are already pretty salty.

Highlights from BKK

DIRTY!!!














Cleaned my nose and that was the result after 1 day and 1 tut tut ride.














My slipper in the morning.














My slipper at the end of the day!














My slipper after scrub every night.

FOOD!!














Swensen there is cheap!














Durian with sticky rice.











Mango with sticky rice.














Used to be Mango King. But I think Mango King closed down and was replaced by this brand instead. Healthier as they do not add coconut.














Krispy Kreme donut! Outlet at Siam Paragon and the queue was madness. There were queues at all times of the day..until closing! Illegal hawkers would queue then sell it out on the streets. They were as bold as selling it right at the doorstep of Krispy Kreme! One illegal hawker offered us 400 baht a piece! And it cost only 27 baht to buy it from the store!!

But I must say that the donut is nice! Very soft even if we ate it the next day!














Road side roti prata. I would only go as far as eating road side food without raw food like meat, seafood as they have no proper storage like freezer...














Yums...but very fattening....oil, butter, condensed milk and sugar!!











Authentic thai dinner at a small restuarant at Siam Square...

Not to mention that the beers and breezers are very very cheap....

PAIN!!














The big fat blister...did not notice when exactly it developed...but I think it was on the second last day..or third last night....My left ankle was also slightly swollen :P

DATE!!














It's year 2553 in Thailand!

SHOPPING!!














Paul Derek jumper at the top left corner was the most expensive buy in this pic. About S$25. The rest were bought at Platinum Mall, Chatuchak Market and other road side night markets! Range from 100baht to 300 baht. (S$4.40 to S$13)














Buys from Platinum Mall, Siam Sqaure and road side night markets. Range from 100 baht to 300 baht.














Buys from Pratunum Market, whole sale centre near Pratunum Market, Chatuchak Market, MBK, Isetan at Central World and road side night markets. Range from 80 baht to 4300 baht. Of course the Longchamp was the most expensive buy. $190 (after credit card conversion rate) from BKK airport.














Food stuff and gifts. From MBK, supermarkets, Platinum Mall, Sampeng and Central World.














Dad's 'old man' singlet from Pratunum Market.














Food stuff, bedroom slipper, pillow cases from night markets, Suan Lum Night Bazaar, supermarkets, Chinatown, Sampeng and Platinum Mall.

HOTEL!!

Stayed at Tango Vibrant Living Place. More like a small motel or boutique hotel. Place is clean with room safe. But definately not a high class place. Free 1 hour wi-fi everyday. Comes with simple free breakfast everyday too. Location is not too bad, less than 3 minutes walk to Pratunum Market. Across Pratunum Market is Platinum Mall and Baiyoke Hotels area.

First home cooked meal after BKK

Simple dark soya sauce grill chicken wings and Tom Yum Soup.

Used the ready made packet paste bought from BKK. Had to add a cube of Tom Yum cube as I wanted more soup. Also added fish sauce, cut chilli padi and lime juice. Yums!!

Treatment 11 Oct 2010

It's pink this time. Later realised it was so apt since it was the breast cancer awareness month.

Treatment is getting more painful. But the pain was instantly gone after the tightening was done.

Recipe for Sze Chuan Pork Ribs Soup

Ingredients:

Pork Ribs
Sliced Pork
Sze Chuan vegetable

Method:
- Sliced the sze chuan vegetable.
- Marinate the ribs and sliced pork with sesame oil, fish sauce, pepper and rice wine.
- Add everything and bring to boil.

* No seasoning required at all as I marinated the meat and the vegetable is tasty enough!

Recipe for Sweet and Sour Pork

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. pork tenderloin (cut into bite size pieces)
1/2 green bell pepper (about 2 oz. and cut into pieces)
1/2 red bell pepper (about 2 oz. and cut into pieces)
2 stalks scallions (only the white part, cut into 2 inch length)
1 piece fresh/canned pineapple ring (cut into small pieces)
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
Oil for frying

Marinate:

1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon corn flour
1/2 teaspoon rice wine

Frying Batter:

1/2 cup water
2 oz. all-purpose flour
1 oz. corn starch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 egg
1 teaspoon cooking oil
1 small pinch of salt

Sweet and Sour Sauce:

1 1/2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon plum sauce
1/8 teaspoon Chinese rice vinegar (transparent in color)
1/2 teaspoon Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon corn starch
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons water

Method:

- Cut the pork tenderloin into pieces and marinate with the ingredients for 15-20 minutes.
- Mix the sweet and sour sauce ingredients well and set aside.
- Strain the dry ingredients of the frying batter and then add in the egg, water, and cooking oil to form a thick batter.
- When the pork is well-marinated, transfer the pork pieces into the batter and make sure they are well coated. In a deep skillet, add in the cooking oil enough for deep-frying. Once the oil is hot, deep fry the pork pieces until they turn golden brown.
- Dish out and drain on paper towels.

- Heat up a wok and add in some cooking oil. Add in the chopped garlic and stir fry until light brown, then follow by the bell peppers and pineapple pieces. Stir fry until you smell the peppery aroma from the peppers and then add in the sweet and sour sauce.
- As soon as the sauce thickenens, transfer the pork into the wok and stir well with the sauce. Add in the chopped scallions, do a few quick stirs, dish out and serve hot with steamed white rice.

Recipe for Sambal Kang Kong

Ingredients:

500g water convolvulus (kankong)
3-4 tbsp cooking oil
50g dried prawns, soaked & chopped

Spice Paste:

5 fresh red chillies
5 dried chillies
12 shallots
1 clove garlic
4 buah keras (candlenuts)
1 tsp belachan, toasted
1 tsp ikan bilis stock granules
salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash kangkong and snap the stalks at 2-4 leaves intervals, discarding the thicker parts of the stalks.
2. Heat oil in a wok and fry the chopped dried prawns until fragrant. Remove and set aside.
3. In the same oil, saute the spice paste until fragrant. Add in the kangkong and stir-fry till kangkong is cooked. Season with salt and the ikan bilis stock granules.
4. Dish up and sprinkle with fried dried prawns.

* For the chilli paste, I used ready made one from NTUC. But I added shallots and garlic to make it fragrant. And of course the ikan bilis stock for the taste. Next time I'll add balachan too. Think it'll be even more fragrant. I forgot to buy it yesterday!

Recipe for Wine Sauced Prawns

Ingredients:

500g big prawns (unshelled)
20 shallots
2 cloves garlic
2 fresh red chillies
1 small piece ginger
3 tbsp chai por (preserved radish)
2 stalks spring onions, cut into 2cm lengths

Seasoning for prawns:

2 tsp salt
1 tsp fish sauce
a pinch of pepper

Ingredients for Sauce:

2 tbsp chinese wine
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
4 tbsp water

Method:

1. Clean prawns and season with salt, pepper and fish sauce for 1 hour.
2. Chop shallots, garlic, ginger and red chillies finely. Wash chai por and squeeze dry.
3. Deep fry prawns till crispy, remove and drain off excess oil.
4. Mix chinese wine with sesame oil, oyster sauce, sugar and water in a bowl.
5. Heat wok with a little oil and fry chopped onions, garlic, ginger and chai por till fragrant. Add in chopped red chillies and the prepared sauce, stir well and add in the crispy fried prawns.
6. Remove and garnish with chopped spring onions.

Lunch 23 Oct 2010

Sambal kang kong, sze chuan pork ribs soup, wine sauce fried prawns and sweet and sour pork.

The sambal kang kong, soup and prawns were nice and really easy to cook.

The sweet and sour pork was not so nice because for health reason, I did not deep fry the pork first. Next time shall try the deep fried version! :)

Recipe for English Traditional Scones

Ingredients

55g butter
225g self-raising flour
a pinch of salt
25g caster sugar
150ml milk

Instructions

- Firstly heat the oven to 220C.
- Mix together the salt, flour and butter.
- Stir in the caster sugar and then the milk until you get soft dough.
- Turn the dough onto a floured work area and knead lightly.
- Pat to around 2cm thick. Using a 5cm cutter, stamp out the rounds and place them on a lightly greased baking sheet.
- Knead together the rest of the dough and stamp out more scones to use up all of the mix.
- Brush the tops of the scones with a little milk.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden.
- Cool on a wire rack and serve with butter / jam / clotted cream.

My bling bling Kate Spade

My bag arrived 2 weeks ago! And postage was only $40. :))