Catching Up

My parents arrived 2 Mondays ago and since then, we have been playing catch up. They are busy catching up on the developments of their grandsons, marvelling at how tall KK has become and how many words XX can say. They also now physically experienced for themselves how cold and windy Melbourne can be and how there are all kinds of Chinese groceries readily available here.



In the meantime, I have been catching up on some of my mother's cooking. Already, I have had my fix of cantonese desserts like beancurd barley soup with ginko nuts and sweet potato soup. (Red bean soup is coming up this Friday.) Not to mention my mum's 'famous' fried rice and homemade Lotus root soup.



Grocery shopping here can be a fruitful outing, as we sometimes discover genuine bargains. The savvy 'marketer' in my mother immediately picked out fresh beef, pork and chicken here that cost much less than those in S'pore. The other day, they went to a vegetable and fruit seller and brought back bags of red chilli/peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, apples, potatoes and sweet corn, all at $1/bag. These items were all for 'clearance' as they were either very ripe or does not appear beautiful. We turned the tomatoes into pureed pasta sauce, apples into apple pie and the potatoes, we've still not finished them after 2 meals of baked potatoes and stewed potatoes. Hubby was so delighted to buy back 2 kgs of grapes at $1.99/kg. Another night, we also could not resist buying a big watermelon from Coles at $0.95 per kilo.








I've learnt a new way of cooking eggplant from my mum. I don't normally buy eggplants because I don't know how to cook it. But now I know one way and it's very yummy too! It's a simple, yet complete dish, in that there's meat and veg all-in-one and goes well over plain rice. I love all-in-one dishes! Would like to share this recipe with people who love all-in-one dishes too!






Here are the ingredients:




Eggplant with Pork in Oyster Sauce

• Minced pork (about 200g or less will do)
• Garlic (chopped)
• Onions (chopped)
• Eggplant (sliced)
• Red Pepper/Capsicum (cut into strips or squares)
• Oyster Sauce
• Dark Soya Sauce

Method: (as described by my mum)

• Lightly fry the sliced eggplants and set aside.
• Heat some oil and fry the onions and garlic until fragrant.
• Add in the red pepper and fry for a minute.
• Add in the minced pork and fry till cooked. Add in the eggplant.
• Stir in some water and allow to simmer for a while.
• Add oyster sauce and dark soya sauce to taste.

Voila!