What was, What is, What will be....: Food

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Happy Birthday Hubby!

It's Hubby's birthday today.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!! Me and our little 'darling' celebrated with him at home today.. Here's a little something I did for Hubby for his birthday..

..:::Chocolate coated Strawberries:::..

It's my first try, and I obviously needs more practice. Hubby, being his usual chivalrous self said they looked wonderful and tasted great..

Orange Jello, Anyone?

I saw this in How About Orange and decided to give it a try. Here's a step by step guide:

You'll need:

3 big oranges
One box of orange flavored jelly powder (about 100gm)
400ml of boiling water

I'm supposed to slice the oranges lengthwise, but clever me sliced them horizontally. That's why I had trouble removing the pulps and caused a hole at the bottom of one of the oranges.. Use the kitchen wipe to blot the rinds so that they are kept dry.

Mix in the jelly powder with about 200ml of boiling water. Stir them together then add in the rest of the water. The directions on the box of the jelly powder actually calls for about 500ml of water, but I wanted the jelly to be firmer. I'm not too sure if it makes any difference, but the consistency turns out alright.

Place the rinds on any containers you have around to keep them upright.. I use cupcake cases. It works well.

Fill the jelly as much as possible, as they shrink a little when set. Leave it out to cool then place them in the refrigerator.

After the jello are set (about 3 hours or more), you can remove from the fridge and slice each half into another half.. and you can serve! Easy, and I'd bet it'll be a hit with children.. The big kid in this house certainly loved it! Ha!

"Nien Nien You Yu"

Didn't do any CNY baking this year, but we made agar-agar in the shape of fishes to be placed at the alter during the new year..

..:::Step One - Pour in cooked agar agar into mold, add in coloring at desired spots:::..

..:::Step two - Wait of agar agar to set, coloring will spread beautifully:::..

..:::Step three - Once set, remove from mold and viola! Your fish is done!:::..

I just realised that I've yet to wish everybody a Happy Lunar New Year! Here's wishing everybody a wonderful and fruitful year ahead.. May this year be a year of great abundance to everybody! Huat ah!

..:::Fish anyone?:::..

My Valentine..

Didn't do much, I slept the afternoon away, teach at home in the evening, while Hubby prepared dinner... the result:

..:::The centerpiece:::..

..:::Dinner:::..

Hubby made mushroom soup, main course consists of Ratatouille, apple cheese sausage and bacon wrapped tenderloin with mushroom sauce. We substituted the wine with Ribena, because Hubby said I had too much wine during CNY back home.. :( Hubby even bought passion fruit and cream for dessert but I was too full to have them.. Ha!
The utensils were placed that way because I'm left handed.. in case some of you haven't noticed..

After dinner we settled down and watch The Amazing Race Asia and after that it's off to bed! That's how we spend our Valentine's, at home and inexpensively.. thanks to Hubby! Love you sweetie..

Rockapella and Deepavali..

We went to the Rockapella concert at the Esplanade a fortnight ago.. I've loved their work since I first heard their Christmas compilation 3-4 years ago.. So, it was my greatest pleasure to be able to watch them live.. After the show, me and Anna queued up for autograph from these 5 man band..

We had lots of fun! Rockapella, please come again soon! Ha~!

We spent Deepavali roasting Tandoori drumlets for dinner..

We made a lot~!~! Because we included Anna and Dave.. but they didn't come back that day... and in the end Hubby and me finished everything!!! LOL!!

Seafood Herbal Wine Steamboat

I read about this place from molemole's blog, which I linked from 9. Hubby and me, decided to give it a try yesterday. We reached at about 5.30pm, because we wanted to catch a movie after that, and already it was rather packed..

..:::Nomin Seafood Restaurant, 31/33 Teck Chye Terrace:::..

..:::The menu:::..

..:::The wine and liquor used in the steamboat:::..

We ordered the steamboat ($30) that comes with a platter of seafood (which includes fish, squid, fishballs, prawns, crabs, frog legs, scallops, sea cucumbers, vegetables and straw mushrooms). Hubby was worry it's not enough for the both of us.. since we declined having rice.

..:::The seafood platter:::..

The soup was delicious!!! I loved herbal soup.. and with the wine, it's yummy! Even Hubby says so.. Midway through dinner, both our faces were red, though we didn't really feel the effect from the wine. I guess it's because of the heat as well..

..:::Hubby's face was really red in this picture, but he's too dark to see.. ha!:::..

..:::We finished nearly all the soup!:::..

At the end of dinner, we were both very full! Maybe because we finished the soup till the very last drop.. haha! The steamboat, together with 2 drinks came up to $34. All in all it was really worth trying..

We went to watch a sneak preview of 'Stardust' after that. It was really nice! Light hearted and funny.. Do go and watch!

Botak Jones's Coming to Woodlands!

Read it from 9

Hubby, you hear that?!?!?!

Lol.. he'll be whopping around!

Sigh.. haven't had the mood to blog since hubby left for Taiwan.. He'll be back in less than two weeks though.. :) Miss you baby...

Might be baking again tomorrow.. will post some pics if I do..

Ciao!

Beef Stroganoff

Chef Hubby tried this for dinner last Sunday.. it was yummy!

BEEF STROGANOFF

Preparation time: 15mins
Cooking time: 20mins
Serves 4.

Ingredients

600g rib eye fillet or rump
1/4 cup (30g) seasoned plain flour
375g fettuccine
60g butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
300g button mushroom, thickly sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup (60ml) red wine
300ml cream

1. Pound the slices of beed between two sheets of plastic wrap with a mallet or rolling pin until half their thickness. Cut each slice into strips about 1cm wide. Place in a plastic bag with the seasoned flour and shake to coat.
2. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and cook the fettuccine according to the packet instructions until al dente.
3. Meanwhile, melt 40g of the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and cook the onion for 2 minutes. Add the beef in batches and cook for 5 minutes, or until evenly browned. Remove from the pan and keep warm. Heat the remaining butter in the pan and add the mushrooms, stirring, for 2-3 minutes, or until soft and lightly browned. Add the tomato paste and the red wine, stirring continously for 2 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced. Add the beef, stir in the cream, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently for a futher minute, or until the sauce has thickened. Serve with the fettuccine.

From Quick and Easy Tasty Meals in Minutes.

Dinner Last Night..

Pasta with Beef Ragu.

Preparation time: 10mins
Cooking time: 1hour 30 mins
Serves 4.

Ingredients:

100g streaky bacon, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bay leaf
800g lean beef mince (I used 600g and there were enough for 4 persons)
500ml red wine
1 can pasta sauce (I used Prego's 300g)
400g pasta
Grated Parmesan, to garnish.

1. Heaat a large deep frying pan. Add the bacon and cook over medium high heat for 2 mins, or until soft and just starting to brown. Add the onion, garlic and bay leaf and cook for 2 mins, or until the onion is soft and just starting to brown.

2. Add the mince and stir for about 4 mins, or until the mince browns, breaking up any lumps with the back of a wooden spoon. Add the wine, pasta sauce and 1 cup (250ml) water and stir well. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 40 mins. Remove the lid and cook for a further 40 mins, or until reduced to a thick, glossy sauce.

3. About 20 mins before the raguis ready, bring a large saucepan of salted water to a rapid boil and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions until al dente. Drain. Serve the sauce over the pasta and garnish with a little grated Parmesan.

From Quick and Easy Tasty Meals in Minutes.

Tonight's Menu..

Gumbo Ya Ya.

The only Gumbo I've ever tried was from Botak Jone's. This recipe is slightly thicker, but still quite alike. I replaced the Creole Seasoning with Cajun Seasoning, because I didn't have enough ingredients for the Creole.
This recipe could feed a dozen... I've cut it in half and there's still enough left for two generous helping after feeding the four of us!
Cooking the roux (pronounced as rue) was quite a challenge too! It was rather freaky, firstly having no idea what it was until this morning when I was researching the recipe. And the smell! Cooking butter with flour till it turned dark mahogany is rather smelly! For a while there I thought I did something wrongly! Ha!
Well, I got rather good reviews from the family (Hubby) and friends.. If you're up to it, do give it a try too!

Lunch Today...

Hubby came home unexpectedly early today.. so we were able to have lunch together...

..:::Mutton Satay and Cheese Sausages with Brown Rice:::..

That's what was in the refrigerator...

Appreciating whatever time I can spend with Hubby.. because next month he'll be in Taiwan for work for a whole month! SOB!

We Heart Fish!! Chapter 2

Tuesday, 7th August 2007, 9.30pm.

My talented Hubby cooked these:

into this:

..:::Seafood Paella:::...

Armed with my new cookbook I bought last Sunday, I tried this:

...:::Catfish with CousCous Crust (seen here with Paella and a dollop of Tartare Sauce):::..

Yummilicious!!!

We Heart Fish!

Monday, 6th August 2007, 9pm.

..:::Cobia in Buttered Almond and Chips:::..

Dinner @ The ZON Regency Hotel.

Sunday, 5th August 2007, 6.30pm.

That was where we had our wedding dinner over at Malaysia. The perks included a complimentary food tasting for 1 table. We didn't have the chance to go there before the wedding, so now, after 4 months, Hubby, me, my mum, dad and sis, Anna and Dave and my Xiao Jiu (Youngest Uncle) and his family made a trip there to taste the food we didn't have the chance to try during the wedding..

I love the service they provided during the wedding. They were very accomodating and friendly. So much better than service I had for the dinner over here in Singapore!

The food was rather nice too.

The meal started off with a combination platter - 4 Happiness Combination; I didn't manage to take a picture of this, because everybody was so excited that the food was there.. we just digged in.. LOL!

..:::The rest of the course: Shark's Fin Soup, Crispy Boneless Almond Chicken with Thai Spicy Sauce, Steamed Garoupa "Teochew" Style, Baked Imperial Tiger Prawns, Braised Lingzhi Muchrooms with Dried Scallops, Golden Mushroom & Spinach, and, Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf:::..

The Steamed Garoupa was the yummiest! Everyone couldn't get enough of it! For desert, we had Chilled Sago with Pumpkin & Cream of Honey Dew.. yummy!

My dad's a good friend with the manager there now.. lol.. I made him a promise that we'll celebrate his 60th birthday next year. My ever cool-never-say-much daddy, just smiled and nod..

More Fish-y Dishes...

As promised the Assam Pedas I whipped up a couple of days ago... It was alright... nothing to wow at...

Assam Pedas Fish

Hubby went to fish again on thursday night with his fishing buddy, Raymond. Came back with another 3 seabasses.. So, today, we both cleaned the fish (Our professional fish cleaner, Anna was at work!) and fillet it ourselves! We decided to bake the fish this time.. and the outcome turned out very well! It was DELICIOUS!...Yum yum!

Baked Seabass with Garlic Butter Herb Bread Crumb Topping.

Let me know if anybody wants the recipe.. it's really delish!

The Sea Hath Fish for Every Man.

Well.... in this case the pond hath fish for a girl.. Read about Anna's first 'big catch' here.

Everyone's catching the fishing fever now.. lol..

Anna was so psyched about the fishes that she descaled and gutted the fishes all by herself.. I was only in charged with the cooking

So, two of the fishes went from this:

to this:

Beer battered fish and chips.. Hubby said some said it was kinda silly to cook them this way, considering these are fresh seabass we caught.. but we were worry that it'll have a muddy taste.. It wasn't muddy.. was kinda good actually...

1 more fish left, gonna try Assam Pedas tomorrow.. update soon!

What was, What is, What will be....