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

Darthsalacious in the Papers!

Hubby's post on CPL Dave Teo was featured in Digital Life. You can read more here.

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.

MidAutumn's Cookies.

Mooncake Biscuits/ Koong Chai Pneang.

This is my first attempt making the biscuits. It's really easy actually, but takes a lot of time.
Makes about 15.

Ingredients:

200g golden syrup
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/4 tbsp alkaline water
50g corn oil

300g plain flour, sifted
Thick soy sauce (for colour)

1. Combine golden syrup, alkaline water and sifted bicarbonate of soda in a basin. Add oil and mix with a wooden spoon and allow to rest for 4-5 hours.

2. Add thick soy sauce and stir well. Fold in sifted flour gradually and mix evenly to form a smooth, soft dough. Do not knead. Let dough rest for another 6-7 hours.

3. Divide dough into small portions. Dust with flour and press into figurine mould. Knock out and place on greased baking tray and bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 8 minutes. Remove tray from the oven and leave for 1-2 minutes. Brush biscuits with eggs glaze and bake again 6-7 minutes or until golden.

Recipe from At Home with Amy Beh.

..::: Before baking:::..

It took much longer for the mixture to stand than stated in the recipe. I waited about 4 hours before mixing in the flour. Then another 6 hours when I first tried putting the dough into the mould, but it was much too soft to be moulded. In the end, I left it overnight, before moulding and baking it. I added the heart shaped Quins for fun.. Ha!

..:::After Baking:::..

..:::After cooling the biscuits:::..

No comments on these biscuits yet as no one has tried them yet.. except for me.. I find them quite ok...

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!

An Unreturned Book...

So... I was back at my mum's place a week ago... Aaron was taking a nap, my mum and my dad was busy cooking lunch. There I was, nothing to do...

In the dining area, there's a tall bookcase, containing both me and my sister's books back from our childhood days.. Boy, did we read a lot then, I was thinking.. I went through some of the books for old times sake.. There's Enid Blytons, Nancy Drews, Sweet Valley Twins... hey! A couple of books from Shakespeares..

Hmmm... what's this?

This was a good book! I flipped the first page:

HAHA!! And I've held on to this book for at least 12 years.. Pearl, I'll return it to you the next time we meet k.. LOL!

I'm Loving It!

I'm so hooked on this game right now.. It's not easy to play though.. you'll have to raise the cattle, provide the cattle feed, butchering, manage the restaurant, keep the higher management happy, while trying not to bankrupt the organization! It's fun though! Try it! Click here.

Making money in a corporation like McDonald's is not simple at all! Behind every sandwich there is a complex process you must learn to manage: from the creation of pastures to the slaughter, from the restaurant management to the branding. You'll discover all the dirty secrets that made us one of the biggest company of the world.

Va-kyüm klEn-ner

Ha! We finally bought the vacuum cleaner after a year moving in.. Hubby was complaning that there's too much hair on the floor, that no amount of sweeping will help... So off we went and got ourselves this:

..:::See all the hair in the plastic container on the left?:::..

No more excuse for not cleaning the house! Ha!

The 'Lalang' In My House!

Hubby's been eyeing to get rid of the Pussy Willows ever since after Chinese New Year..

Yesterday, he finally made the move after a trip to Ikea.. Hubby chose and arranged everything himself...

..:::The Lalang:::..

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!!!

Motor GP Racer Wannabes...

Hubby, my sis, and me were driving over to the restaurant from my mum's place for dinner last sunday, when we came across these two guys...

They looked set on becoming a GP racer.. now all they need is a racing bike and a track to race on!

Aurelius Adam Junior Tan

Exactly 1 month old today.. Congratulations to Mummy and Daddy, Angel and Adam!

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..

Sun, Sea and Sand!

Had a little getaway just a few days ago. We made a trip to Bintan, with Anna and Dave. It was absolutely fun and relaxing.. Here's some pics..

..::: On the ferry going to Bintan. It was spacious and comfortable to ride in:::..

..:::The view from the ferry:::..

..:::Yay! We're at Bintan after a 55mins ride on the sea! The weather was great!:::..

..:::Bintan's one and only town, Pasar Oleh Oleh, catered specially for tourist. There's a wet market right behind the town where you can get resonably priced food!:::..

..:::The lobby of Bintan Lagoon Resort, where we're staying:::..

..:::The swimming pool:::..

..:::The villas, we stay in one that's similar to these, only slightly smaller. We have a buggy to ourselves too! So fun!:::..

..:::The beach.. where we spend most of our time!:::..

..:::There were many small fishes near the shore, we even spotted a stingray! So we tried a little fishing by the shore, but gave up soon after.. we went swimming instead! Ha!:::..