Grow, Garden, Grow

While I have been busy baking and cooking in the kitchen, Hubby has been having his own fun, fooling around outside - the garden. In Chinese, what he's doing is literally 捏花惹草 "nie hua re cao". Haha...

The budding gardener

We have a huge backyard behind the house. Since we moved in during winter, we've generally left the backyard alone, as it has been too cold to venture outside. Now that the days have turned warmer, with better sunshine and rain, we noticed the garden has gotten very messy, with shrubs and weeds all over the place. There's this big vegetation in the middle that's prospering. The landlord said it's edible but we don't dare to try. There were also some rubbish, not to mention a 'cosy corner' where a few cats would come and have a snooze during the warmer hours of the day.

Lilies a'blooming

Organic vegetables?

Hubby decided it's time we plant some flowers and grow our own herbs, maybe even vegetables, at the same time tidy up the garden a little for the kids to run around in. Since he bought his first pair of gardening gloves and watering can, there's no stopping him. The budding gardener has been enthusiastically digging, weeding and watering his little garden during his free time. He says it's 'therapeutic' and now he can understand why some people can spend the whole day in the garden.

We've started with lavender, daisy, oregano, strawberry and basil. I can see that even though it's only been a few days, the daisies already seem to have grown taller. KK has also been involved in the action, helping his dad water and weed the plants. The gum boots that we've bought for him earlier is now being put to good use.

KK helping to trim the grass

XX and KK have fun digging soil

Yesterday and today, Hubby went to Bunnings again and bought more seedlings. We also bought 22 cement tiles and woodchips to lay as a pavement on the ground. Too bad this is a rented place, otherwise, I'm really tempted to buy a gazebo and some outdoor dining set. Add on a BBQ set, we're ready to have some alfresco dining! We agreed that we are definitely gonna have this when we have our own place next time.

Our backyard

The 'golden' path

XX having a part of the action

Bak Chor Mee, no Tur Kwa

On the day I made bread, I also made Bak Chor Mee (Mince pork noodles) for dinner. It was, thankfully, less trying and successful on the first attempt. Hubby gave it the thumbs up.



Well, I didn't manage to find the black vinegar, otherwise it would taste even more authentic. And I used 'bean mee' (aka 'mee chiam') as a substitute for mee pok, which is not too bad as the noodles is soft and not too starchy. I got these noodles from Malaysia.

I adapted the recipe from here. For anyone who wants to DIY, here's the list of my ingredients:

(the portion here is for 2-3 pax, some ingredients have no quantity, it's up to you to use how much you like.)

• Bean Mee (if you don't have fresh mee pok, or you can also use linguini)
• 10 Dried Mushrooms, soaked overnight, sliced (Keep the water!)
• 300g Minced Pork (you can add in some slice pork loin too)
• 1 Shallot, sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp of dark soya sauce
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp ginger paste (I used ginger paste, which contains some vinegar, so it sort of replaces the black vinegar)
• Fishballs
• 1 Fish Cake, sliced
• Vegetables, cut
• Tomato Ketchup
• Sesame Oil
• Chilli Padi/Soya Sauce

Method:

The Mushroom Stew & Sauce

- Fry shallots and ginger with oil until fragrant, add mushrooms and stir fry till cooked. Add in dark soya sauce and oyster sauce. Add in the mushroom water and simmer for a while.

- Dish it out and put into a slow cooker to stew further.

- Fry garlic and add in minced pork. Separate the mince as you fry. After it's done, put it into the mushroom stew pot.

The Noodles

- In a bowl, mix some tomato ketchup and sesame oil.

- Cook the noodles according to instructions. It may be neccesary to blanch it into cold water (to stop the cooking) and back into the hot water again (to warm it back) before dishing into bowl.

- Mix it and serve immediately.

The Soup

- Make some soup using veg/chick stock.

- Add in vegetable, fish ball and fish cake when it's boiling.

To Serve

- Scoop mushroom/mince pork & sauce over noodles.

- Arrange fishballs, fish cake slices and vegetables on top of noodles OR serve it in a bowl of soup.

- Cut one chilli padi and add soya sauce in a separate condiment dish.

Flour + Yeast + Water = Bread?

Is a plain loave so plain simple to make? Add water to flour and yeast and you get bread? Apparantly not.

I have been frustrated these 2 days about my bread making attempts - 3 attempts to be exact. It all started when I saw this "soft like cotton sweet corn bread" recipe in Baking Cottage's blog (http://mybakingcottage.blogspot.com/2008/08/soft-like-cotton-sweet-corn-bread.html. It got me salivating and since I had half a jar of creamed corn frozen in my freezer and I don't know what to do with it, I decided "yeah, let's make some bread!" (Btw, I've never made bread before.)

But this project is frauded with obstacles and doomed to fail right from the start. Here's why:

Firstly, I cannot find 'bread flour', as stated in the recipe. I've seen it in S'pore, but here in Australia, they have plain flour, wholemeal flour, organic wholemeal flour...except straightforward 'bread flour'. I see 'Bakers Flour' and only found out later, if I'm not wrong, that THAT'S what they call bread flour here. But anyway, the flour comes in like 5kg size, and I'm not about to buy that much just for a loaf of corn bread. At least not yet, until I'm confirmed baking on a regular basis.

The closest flour I found was 'bread mix'. Now, I have no idea what's the difference between 'bread mix' and 'bread flour'. In fact, the other reason why my bread is doomed is my lack of knowledge in this science of baking. It was only after reading up later that I realised that there are actually so many different types of flour. Not only that, there's as many different types of yeast too! Now I'm really getting confused. There should be a degree course on this, if you ask me...heheh.

So after multiple trips to Coles and even Safeway, I still haven't found out which flour to buy. I read that I can use plain flour and add gluten to substitute for bread flour, but I can't find any gluten at the supermarkets. The staff there pointed me to the 'gluten-free' aisle when I asked him. I want 'gluten', not 'gluten-free', mate! In the end, I decided to buy a pack of bread mix to try. And that was only because I found they sell it in 600gm size at Safeway. All the other bread mixes comes in 2.4kg packs.

The next day, I eagerly tried out the recipe. The tricky part came when I had to measure 3g worth of yeast. The measuring scale I had is the primitive sort, and every bar represents minimum of 10g. How am I gonna measure 3g with it? Heck, I just simply scoop a little on the teaspoon and hope it's about 3g.

Here comes the next reason why I failed. In baking, you cannot 'anyhow humtum'. Exact measurements and sequencing is very important. Like a science experiment in the laboratory, there are chemical reactions taking place in that piece of dough, so if you put some things first and some things last, or if you put too much or too little, the results could be disasterous! And that is my problem. I'm not someone who is very precise. When I cook, I tend to alter the recipe to suit what I have in my fridge and my larder, taste, then add a bit of this, a bit of that to get the flavour. But in baking, you can't just do this.

Thus my 1st dough, which passes the 'windowpane' test, by the way, did not rise. After a long time, it's still tiny. I baked it nonetheless, hoping it will rise in the oven. It turned out to be a 'heavy prata'.

The 'flat' bread

I tried a 2nd time, this time adding more yeast. I followed the recipe to a T except I still don't have the equipment to measure 3g. Again, it didnt' grow. Why? Is it the yeast that's not working? Or the flour? Not enough liquid? Or the whole combination? Maybe I have to wait longer? All these questions are bugging me. Till now, I still don't have the answers. Anyone can tell me what went wrong?

2nd attempt - slightly better but still not good

Today, I decided, maybe this recipe just don't work for bread mix flour. By right, bread mix is supposed to be a convenient way to make bread and designed for the bread maker machine. Perhaps I'd 'disrupted' the formula by adding stuff like milk, eggs, butter. I'll just use the remainder of flour, add in water and yeast, according to instructions on the pack and throw in some corn kernels at the end. Surely I can't go wrong with this?

Well, my 3rd dough did grow, after a 2nd round of yeast/water and almost 5 hours of proofing. And the result after baking?

The dough after proofing

Finally, the 'soft like cotton' texture!

Success! At last. The texture of the bread is just nice now, with a nice crust. Everyone loves the taste of the freshly baked warm bread. We finished the loave in no time. I was about to give up on baking bread, there's just so much effort and it takes a long time. But now, I think I'll continue to do it. The time and effort was worth it. Maybe I'll invest in a bread machine and make my own warm bread everyday? Before that, definitely an electric weighing scale is my next purchase.

KK loves it!

Miss it? Make it!

You may have noticed that recently I have been more adventurous in my cooking. Indeed, I have been visiting quite a few food blogs, researching for recipes from 'minjiang kueh' to 'sweet corn bread' and even 'bak chor mee'. Along the way, I also strayed into other interesting recipes like 'kimchi fried rice' and 'earl grey chiffon cake', which I'll want to try making, as soon as I get hold of a tube pan.


Besides keeping my idle mind active and expanding the menu for dinner, much of this interest stems from one of us (usually me) missing some of the Singapore local delights. Interestingly, besides the usual homemaker/bakers, many of the recipes for local delights are contributed/written by Singaporeans who are living overseas. Then again, if you are living in S'pore, why would you even bother making 'min jiang kueh' or 'bak chor mee'. Just go downstairs and get some from the coffeeshop! But when you are living overseas, many of these food that we take for granted previously are not readily available. So the only way to satisfy those cravings would be to MAKE IT!


Tonight, I tried to make Kimchi Fried Rice (Kimchi Bokkumbap). Hubby and I enjoy Korean cuisine alot and we have found this Korean mart in Victoria Street which sells everything that we want - Korean Tofu Soup base, Korean instant noodles, Bimbimbap Sauce, Bulgogi marinade, Enoki mushrooms and Kimchi! They have so many different types of kimchi that I was lost at which one to buy.

The recipe is taken from "My Korean Kitchen" (http://mykoreankitchen.com/2007/01/03/stir-fried-kimchi-and-rice-kimchi-bokkumbap-in-korean/). Incidentally, the blog owner is a Korean living in Brisbane, Australia.

Well, the fried rice turned out looking quite nice, with the reddish kimchi colour and was slightly spicy. Despite the strong flavour of fresh kimchi, the final rice product is suprisingly mild. I actually expected this dish to deliver a punch when you eat it, like tom yam but the taste of kimchi was kind of diluted. I followed the portions closely, in fact, I think I end up draining the whole jar of kimchi juice and I even added some salt when I found it too bland. I don't know, I've never eaten this dish before so I have no comparison of the 'benchmark'. Perhaps I used too little kimchi? Or was it too much rice? Or perhaps the kind of kimchi I bought? Haha...think we should seriously visit a proper Korean restaurant and try it from the professionals one day.

Last Saturday, I also made this "Prata Sausage Roll" for brunch. Since I bought a whole bag of frozen pratas from Footscray, I thought I should try this recipe (http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/2008/08/prata-in-bento.html) out. The preparation was rather easy and I used the pan-fried method, as I think it's not so dry. Just fry the prata (thank God they sell frozen pratas here or I'll have to make the pratas from scratch!), fry the sausage, roll together and put it into the oven for a while before serving. I made the second one with egg on the prata. But when eating it, I can't taste the difference. So unless you want the nutritional value of the egg, don't bother.

Speaking of making egg prata with the frozen pratas, I read some smart alec comment that she tried to cut a hole in the prata when it puffs up and carefully pour in the egg mixture. Well, my prata did puff up, but unevenly (as in, some parts didn't puff up at all). And as soon as I made a hole, the puff deflated! Urrgg...I still poured it on nevertheless and the egg flowed right over and outside the prata! I then tried the other method, which is to fry the egg, then when it's slightly cooked, put the prata over it. This one looks like a half omelette but at least it was round and I used it for the sausage roll. I ate the ugly one with sugar and enjoyed it still, cos egg prata with sugar is my all-time favourite!

Tomorrow, I'm gonna try making an adapted version of 'bak chor mee'. There's no 'mee pok' here, so I'll have to find some other noodle substitue. I also hope to find the black vinegar in Footscray, otherwise, I'll just do the tomato sauce version. I'm gonna skip the 'zhu you zar' (fried pork lard?) for sure. Wish me luck!

Ah E's Pancakes

I've been wanting to make these pancakes since the day KK told me he missed 'Ah Long pancake'. For the less enlightened, this 'Ah Long pancake' is actually your traditional peanut pancake or 'min jiang kueh', creatively modified (by Ah Long, I presume). The same pancake batter is used but instead of peanuts fillings, cheese, egg, sausages, ham, tuna and even sweet corn is used. The pancake is served open and cut into wedges like a pizza. We never thought that 'min jiang kueh' would taste nice with such 'radical' fillings but once we tried it, we were converted. It is actually quite nice with its savoury toppings. KK's favourite is the one with cheese and sausage and we used to drive down to Tampines' S11 foodcourt to buy it for him.


After some research and preparation, I finally made it today. (applause!)


I googled, found the recipe from Baking Cottage's blog (http://mybakingcottage.blogspot.com/2007/12/min-jiang-kueh.html) and started to gather all my ingredients gradually since 1 week ago. The ingredients may seem rather standard, but for me, I had to start from scratch, buying flour, baking soda, yeast etc. I also had to look for the right size crepe pan as both the pans I had were either too big or too small. I finally bought a 20 cm non-stick frypan from Big W.




I made two types of pancakes, the traditional one with peanuts for myself and hubby and the 'Ah Long' type for KK when he came back from school today. My first attempt and I am quite satisfied with the results. The pancakes were fluffy and had a nice aroma. It tasted almost like those they sell in Singapore.





As for the peanuts, I had a big bag of it left over from my glutinous rice 'project'. The day before, I patiently shelled them, then pan-fry them in their skin, remove the skins before grating them in the blender. Much as I don't want to over-grate them into fine peanut powder, I think I made the mistake of putting all the peanuts, which was too much, into the blender all at once. Some of the nuts were uncut while some were already being grated into powder state. Finally after shaking them around, all got chopped but the texture was quite fine. Nonetheles, the smell of the roasted peanuts was awesome! Luckily, the next day, I found a packet of chopped peanuts in Coles. So I mixed them together to get the crunchy feel.





For KK's pancake, I simply pour the batter into the pan, then when it was almost set, I placed a slice of cheese and scattered some chopped shaved ham over it. Cover it for a few minutes till the cheese melts, and it's done! Although I omitted the egg (I think the original version had them), the taste was authentic enough and my heart beamed with joy as I watch my dear son enjoy it thoroughly.

Now that I've started with all these baking ingredients, I guess I will be looking out for more recipes to bake and make.

School Events

It's been slightly more than a month since KK started at his new school and already there are many activities organised by the school.

Last Thursday, KK went on an excursion to Animal Land and then Friday, it was 'Dress Up as your favourite book character' day. You can see his glee when he went up the bus and chose to sit at his favourite seat - behind the driver. At the farm, he milked a cow, held some ducks and rid a pony amongst other things. For me, the greatest benefit of that excusion was his change in attitude towards butter. At the farm, KK saw how butter was made from milk and had a taste of freshly made butter on a biscuit. Mummy has been telling him for the longest time that butter is nice but he wouldn't believe me. Now he says he loves it!

For the dress-up day, KK went as a 'Transformer'. It was not much of a costume, just a Transformers t-shirt, I wished I had a mask. In school, I saw a lot of Spidermans, princesses and even a Darth Vader! It seemed to be favourite 'cartoon' or 'movie' character day rather than 'book' characters! That's the young generation for you.

Today, the school organised its own Olympics Day. All the children are divided to represent different countries and they are supposed to dress in that country's national colours and compete in some games or activities with other 'countries'. There is even an Opening Ceremony and a releasing of pigeons (symbolising peace) which parents are invited to attend. KK is representing Italy so I dressed him in green track pants, a red pullover and a white cap.

Unfortunately, the weather today is not very cooperative. The Opening Ceremony was supposed to be held outdoors but was moved indoors due to the rain. Still, it was a lot of fun (and warmer) to cluster inside and watch the kids do their cheers, sing the school song, national anthem and parade around. The 'teams' made their own 'ra ra' stuff, like flags, banners and posters. We took lots of photos of course.

I think such events are fun and highly educational at the same time. As the Olympics is a big thing now, it is timely to teach the kids about the different countries and the different kinds of sports. I know they talked a lot about the Olympics in class recently cos when KK comes home, he expressed interest in watching the Olympics and when he sees the Olympics logo, he recognises it excitedly.

My Leatherjacket

Two weeks ago, I found the Leatherjacket fish in Footscray and bought two home. I like this fish's texture and most importantly, I like the way my mother cooks it with salted soya bean sauce. Thanks to the jar of salted soya bean and some instructions from her over video conference, I'm able to recreate the dish for dinner tonight. Yummy!

The Burger Generation

One of our favourite restaurants here is MacDonalds. I don't know why kids love it so much but as a parent, if your kids like it, you like it. But over here in Australia, I'm beginning to genuinely like going to MacDonalds. Besides the playground in their premises which serves as a motivational tool for me to encourage KK to eat faster, more importantly, their food is easy for kids to consume and quite tasty. Both Hubby and I agree that the MacDonalds in Australia serve superb burgers. Their buns are so soft and the beef patties, made from local ingredients, are not as tough and taste better. Even KK can tell the difference.

The service and ambience are pretty much standard but over here, the good thing is, you can park right outside the restaurant and they are not so crowded. So you can sit down to a nice hot meal in a matter of minutes from parking your car.

Recently, even XX is initiated and has started to like burgers. He started off eating the french fries. Then one day we fed him the fillet-o-fish and he ate more than half. The next day, we bought him a cheeseburger and he ate three-quarters of it. He's officially 20 months today and still refuses chunky particles in his porridge but somehow, he can grind on that combined bread, cheese and beef patty easily. I made a beef burger with cheese today that's probably at least 1 inch tall and XX ate half of it easily.

Though XX is increasing his variety of food, he is at the same time getting more choosey about what he eats. I would say he loves bread most. He turns his nose to rice and honestly, he doesn't really fancy porridge. Noodles, he's ok and that depends on what kind and how it is cooked. You can see the difference in enthusiasm levels. If it's bread, he'll come to you saying 'more, more' or 'bread, bread'. If his brother is 'Noodles King', I think this boy is a 'Bread King' in the making.

I'm perfectly fine with that. In fact the bread here are all very fresh, soft and tasty, I'm beginning to like it alot too. Besides, I'm running out of ideas on what to cook for him since he's outgrowing porridge but not yet fully on adult's menu. Sandwiches, burgers are to me a substantial and nutritional meal.

Roller Coaster Weather

Now I finally understand what they mean when people talked about the weather in Melbourne. "Melbourne is known for having a slightly schizophrenic weather "- Tripadvisor.com

Yesterday the sun was warm and shinning as I sent KK to school. I even thought perhaps I'd overdressed him and he might feel warm in class later. But by the time I went to pick him up later in the afternoon, it was raining and the wind was very strong. I tried my best to carry XX out of his car seat, holding on to the umbrella which threatened to fly away anytime. Eventually, when we held it the wrong way, the umbrella flipped the other way and we got the cold freezing rain in our face. (It was one of those retractable kind so you can see the frame is not so sturdy. TIme to get a big sturdy one!) However, the rain stopped just when I drove the car back to our garage, which is about 10 mins later.

That evening, it was not very cold. So I allowed the kids just one piece of clothing as pyjamas. But in the middle of the night, I think the temperature must have dipped to 4 degrees or less, the room felt so cold and my nose was cold. I wanted to get up and switch on the heater but was not brave enough to leave the comfort of my blankets. In the end, I just pulled the covers over our heads, covered XX with my extra blanket and huddled together.

There're 3 words to describe the weather here, Singapore style: "Always kena sabo!"

KK's 6th Birthday

This year's birthday for KK is different in that there isn't any party at home with the usual guests of Popo, Gonggong, Yiyi, Gugu and gang. The boy is spoilt already as every year, we always have a family party where he'll receive lots of gifts. So this year, he was kind of upset when he realised that there wasn't going to be one.



I believe that birthdays are special and big or small, there should still be some form of celebration to make the birthday person feel special. We decided to surprise him with a birthday cake on Friday at school. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera so we didn't manage to capture the birthday song moment. The class sang him a birthday song, followed by Hip Hip Hurrays and 6 loud claps for his new age. After that, the class teacher distributed the cake. In the midst of it, the bell rang for 'playtime' and those who had the Chocolate Strawberry cake already was released outside to eat it and/or play. At first, KK was helping to distribute the cake but once the bell rang, he couldn't wait to be with his friends so he left as well. I was pretty embarrassed that the teacher was left to cut and distribute the cake herself and the birthday boy just went out. He didn't even want to eat his birthday cake.

When Hubby bought the camera, I managed to track the boy down (eating lollies outside the canteen with his friend) and took a few photos of him and the cake. We left after that and on the way, Hubby, XX and I gobbled up the remainder of the scrumptious looking and tasting cake.

KK's classmates enjoying the cake outside

KK with his cake with curious onlookers

What's left of the birthday cake before we gobbled it up

On the actual day, it was a simple affair of a lunch followed by opening of two presents which he received from his aunties/uncles earlier. It was his favourite Transformers toys. We also allowed him to open the last of three Spongebob Squarepants DVDs bought for him by Uncle D. Then it was off to Footscray where we bought a Chocolate Cream Black Forest Cake for him.

At night, we proceeded to our friends' house to celebrate Singapore's birthday. Just a small party of 2 other families who were also Singaporeans/ex-Singaporeans. We had steamboat, two actually, one Tom Yam....my favourite. There were alot of yong tau foo stuff which they'd gotten from Footscray as well. They were really good!


Later on, we took out the cake and had another cake cutting ceremony for KK, who shares the same birthday as Singapore. This time round, he helped to distribute the cake till everyone had gotten a piece (after I gave him a talking to later). A bonus for KK, he got another gift from the kind Uncle Ken and co. there.

Powerful Lessons

We were left 'powerless' two days ago by a blackout which affected the whole suburb. That's when we felt the power of electricity and its importance in our lives.

It was around dinner time, the sky was raining and I was preparing to have a warm soupy dinner of Shabu Shabu. The stock was prepared, enoki was washed and the table almost set when the whole house suddenly went dark. My first thought was it's just our house and probably something we did tripped the circuit. But on 2nd thought, no one was using any electrical equipment then. Hubby looked outside and saw that the whole street was dark. The whole stretch of houses along our street had no lights as well.

Thank God the kids were quite calm in the darkness, only KK mentioned something about being scared of ghosts. My mind went into an emergency alert mode and started to think of our next steps.

Torchlight. We only have one and it was upstairs. Even that, the battery was a already quite weak and we have no spare batteries for it. Lesson #1 learnt. Always have a set of spare batteries for your torch. Lesson #2: Have another torch downstairs.

How about candles? I remembered we bought some aroma candles but am not sure of its exact location. Lesson #3: Always have a specific location for such emergency items such as torchlights and candles.

Finally found the candles, but there's no lighter. I went to the gas stove, thinking I could start a fire there to light the candle. Damn! There was no spark to light the gas cos the starter is electrical. Lesson #4: Have a box of matches or a flame lighter to light the candles.

No choice, we had to rely on our one and only dim torchlight and light from the laptop screen to get around. Being new here, we had no idea who to call if such an event happen. We called our friend who advised that if the whole street was affected, our neighbours would probably have alerted the responsible parties so all we had to do was wait. He said that blackouts are quite common when it rains. Welcome to Australia. It would probably take about an hour for the power to be reconnected.

Without any sustainable light source, our next best alternative is to abandon our Shabu Shabu and go out for dinner. Luckily the weather was cold so I guess the meat and all the stuff in the fridge should be alright if the power comes back in a few hours' time. But wait, the car is in the garage and how do we get the car out when the garage door cannot open electronically? Thankfully, Hubby has a solution to that. There is a way to open the garage door manually. Lesson #5: Learn how to operate the garage door in the manual mode.

So we packed the kids into the car and ended up with a dinner at MacDonalds instead. As we drove along, we realised that the power outage affected not just our street but nearly the whole suburb. Many traffic lights were not working as a result.

With these powerful lessons in my mind, we dropped by our local supermarket that night to stock up on extra batteries, torchlight, candles and a flame lighter. The most important lesson for me, Lesson #6 was: Always be prepared and never assume such things will not happen. "Be Prepared" was the motto for Girl Guides. I wonder why I never learnt it to heart before?

The biggest casualty as a result of that blackout was my HP laptop. Already handicapped with spoilt speakers and miraculously resurrected once from serious "disk error", this time, Hubby tripped on its wires in the dark and the poor fella plunged to its death from the dining table. It wouldn't respond to resuscitation efforts and Hubby finally decided to let it R.I.P. We went shopping for a new one and here I am, writing this blog on my new Acer 5920. Comes with more power!

Cooking Adventures

I don't claim to be a good cook. To me, success is when I'm able to whip up something delicious and nutricious for my family without too much fuss.

Since moving here, the biggest change for me is in having to cook all meals for my family. Actually I'm enjoying it. I've been experimenting and trying out new recipes in an attempt to perfect my cooking skills and increase the variety of food that I can bring to the table. The abundance and freshness of the ingredients here is a great source of inspiration. Usually, I go for "all-in-one" kind of dishes which is faster and yet fulfill nutritions from all the different food categories.


It's an adventure as I eagerly sample the output and think of how I can cook it better. Part of the fun is also in looking for the right ingredients. Recently I was so delighted to find my chinese herbs, dried mushrooms and red dates in Footscray, I think I'll be going there quite often.


Here're some results:


Minced Pork with Enoki mushrooms and Tofu

Evaluation: My mother used to make something like this. A simple and delicious dish with meat and veg plus proteins/calcium from tofu. Quite successful on my first attempt. Hubby loves it because it's got his favourite mince pork and enoki. I think the mince pork here taste very good. I fried the tofu first and put it aside, then I cook the marinated pork with garlic, adding the enoki mushrooms later. Season it simply with oyster sauce and abit of dark soya sauce, sugar. The 2nd time, I mixed the tofu in without frying and it's also not bad.







Beef Steak with Roast Potatoes and Capsicums


valuation: Well balanced meal with meat, veg and starch all in. The beef was simply marinated with some salt, black pepper and red wine. Taste good but the beef was too thick and the center of the beef was still quite rare. We had to return it to the grill again. I cooked the roast potatoes following a recipe I found on a website. It was quite good except that I need to give it more salt next time. It was a lot of work though (for my standard). Had to peel and cut all the potatoes, boil it, then shake it with salt, lastly bake it in olive oil, turning them regularly. That's why I don't really like to cook potatoes but once you buy a whole bag, you've got to think of ways to consume them. I actually cooked alot and froze half for next time.

Glutinous Rice (Chu Bee Peng)

Evaluation: I followed this recipe on "cookbakelegacy.blogspot.com" which my sis in-law sent me. But because I didn't cook as much, I modified the seasoning quantity and end up, it's not salty enough. Also, I missed out on the dried shrimp. However I added 'lap cheong' instead. End results is still very edible but next time, it'll be perfect when I:

1) Add more salt/soya sauce.

2) Add dried shrimp. Although both me and hubby don't really fancy them, I think it makes a difference to the taste.

3) Try not to burn the peanuts while roasting them :-)

4) Steam it instead of cooking in rice cooker. The glutinous rice is still soft and fluffy but the bottom was burnt and stuck to the cooker.

The Bitter Taste of Medicine

Wonder who's the culprit....who is the master carrier of the germs amongst us? Right now I'm confused already who's spreading the germs to who. I thought KK was the one who brought his cough and runny nose to XX, who then spread it to me and Hubby. But then last night, KK got fever of 40 degrees. Now, following the footsteps of XX and Hubby, he's on anti-biotics as well....sigh. I'm the only one now who's not on it. Wonder if I'm immune or is it coming soon?

From left to right: XX, KK and Hubby's anit-biotics

Last afternoon, when KK got back from school, he complained that he had stomachache the whole day in school and felt unwell. He looked pretty listless and lethagic, unlike his usual self. He took a nap and awoke in the evening with high fever.



Hubby decided to bring him to the doctor. He called the clinic who advised him to go to the emgency unit at the nearby hospital. He left with KK and came back about one hour later, without seeing any doctors. What happened was he waited 30 mins at the hospital only to see a nurse that does registeration. The nurse told him the wait to see the doctor would take several hours. However they are only allowed half an hour of parking and being new here, Hubby does not know where is the alternative parking. Hubby then decided to return to our neighbourhood clinic instead. However when he got there, the clinic was turning away patients as the 'doctor was behind time'. Frustrated, Hubby went over to the pharmacy and bought medications over the counter instead. KK finally saw the doctor this morning.



I wasn't surprised to hear about the several hours of waiting time at the Emergency Unit. Even in S'pore, this is common, what's more in Australia where medicare is free, so of course there will be more patients. However I was surprised to hear about the clinic turning away patients even within the clinic's operating hours. Is that ethical? And there's like only ONE clinic in the suburb. In S'pore, I know of one clinic once whose doctor operated 2 hours after closing time just to clear all the patients in the queue.



I was telling Hubby that either that doctor in S'pore love money so much or they feel it is their duty to see all who needs help. Well guess over here, the doctors going off on time is more important than patients or money. Whatever it is, it sure leaves a bitter taste in our mouth.