eating and eating

geez i think the way we have been eating we will each put on 10 kg when we return!

 

hope all the walking is not in vain though - just to burn some fats at least from all the food we have been happily eating!

 

today breakfast was cool! we bought it from the family mart at the hotel lobby, walked to one of the parks in Shinjuku (not the Goen one), visited a temp children mini temporary zoo (shall not say if they were display cruelly :P), then walk to the main park .... then we went to this spot with 2 lovely cherry trees that were already fully bloomed (IN PINK!), pick a spot and eat our breakfast facing the trees ...

 

it's really fun (hadn't been to the park to have a meal with with my hubby for a long time) and certainly memorable ... my dream to see the cherry blossoms have finally been fulfilled!

 

Strawberry Cake

If you didn't know, I'm am a sucker for Japanese style strawberrycake - the one with LOTS of cream with strawberries inbetween 2 sponge layer and more cream on top, the extremely sinful one ...

just bought one from the Odakyu food hall and spend 367 yen on one small piece. Hubby have agreed to buy the bigger one (at least 6 pieces of the size we had) which is going for about over 1000 yen> can eat it over 2 days *YUMMMM* can't wait ... tt's why no photos - just dug right into it!

Old Cucumber Soup

One of my favourite soup - easy to prepare and delicious tasting! ' Old Cucumber Soup' or "lao3 huang2 gua1 tang1' is a clear light soup that supposedly clear heat from the body system. Good for hot weather or when you are 'heaty'.

Made with only 3 Ingredients, and best of all, you don't even have to peel the skin from the fruit!

Made for 2
1 old cucumber, clean well and rinsed, cut horizontally into 4 or 5 pieces, depending on how big your cucumber is.
300g lean pork, rinsed with boiling water
a handful of red dates /5 or 6 small dried oysters / 3 pieces of small scallops (about 20 cents coin in size each) - rinsed quickly

For slow cooker, just dump in everything, cover with 4 bowls of boiling water (about 1.2 liters of water - normally i boiled the required amount in my eletric kettle which has a "measurment" side or just boil 4 bowls of water) and cook for at least for 4 to 5 hours on auto mode. ADD SALT TO TASTE JUST BEFORE SERVING.

For normal pots, dump everything in 1.2 litre of BOILING WATER (remember to rinse the pork with boiling water first - else boil some water, put the pork in for 1 minute or until brown scum form on the surface and discard water, and rinse with clean water before using it). Wait till it comes to a rolling boil, before turning down to low flame and let it simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Can't wait? Then turn down to medium flames and let it boil for 1 to 2 hours. _BUT_ the soup will be more tasty the longer you boil it. ADD SALT TO TASTE JUST BEFORE SERVING.

The soup in the picture is made with dried oysters cuz I ran out of red dates. Still, if you have red dates, for a richer soup, you still can add in some oysters or scallops. Note however dried oysters and scallops are salty, so do add salt only before serving.

Besides, adding salt right in the beginning prevents the soup from obtaining the max flavour from the pork. It's the same theory, while marinading any meat that calls for sesame oil, add the sesame oil last or at least 1 hour after the rest have been mixed. This is because the oil will prevent the meat from absorbing the flavours from the rest of the seasoning.

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP OF ALL - never peel off the skin from the old cucumber. This is because the flavour that comes from the old cucumber is from its skin! Please learn from the errors of my ways!

kimchi noodle soup

been waiting to post about what I have been cooking recently - wanted to share some recipes that I've learnt from my colleagues as well as simple hand me down soup recipes, and not to mention cravings from my cantonese soul.

anyway, i'll prob do bit by bit over the next few days - not much pics so I guess you just have to visualize it.

I had made over the past week:
1. kimchi noodle soup
2. old cucumber soup with pork
3. black chicken herbal soup
4. peanut porridge (not vegetarian style)
5. sliced pork with lotus root shavings in spicy bean sauce

so let's start with the item 1.



well, simple for me since I already have over salted kimchi (my bro says chinchalok is very salty), so i just needed to add water and boil! But i had to boil long enough for the saltiness to be diffused with the water, so take about 30 minutes to boiling, when normally 5 minutes of boiling will suffice! So once boiling, just add noodles (i took the noodles from a maggi mee pack), boil for a further 2 minutes and it's ready to eat!

I *heart* books!

Today went down with my colleague to Kinokuniya during lunch time and he had 6 of the 20% discount coupons. Wasn't sure what I wanted to buy but as I browse the shelves, I ended up with 5 or 6 books in my arms and I couldn't decide which to buy! Some books were a real find - in fact i was so amazed!

 

About 10 years ago, I was in Maui for work and I remembered very distinctively this restaurant I had dinner at. Me and my girlfriend are basically small eaters and we weren't sure what we wanted. The coolest part was that (ya i know i very suaku) the menu was recited by the waiter. How cool is that! And since we weren't sure what we wanted, the waiter (who was very friendly to us) suggested us to try this chicken with white wine sandwich. When it came, we were WOWed over. It's actually a open sandwich, but the chicken was so moist and delicious! We basically mopped up every single bit! I don't know why, but I remembered that experience at the restaurant, which is called Longhi.

 

http://www.hilohattie.com/images/7201.0977.jpg

 

Today, I found this recipe book written by the owners of Longhi Restaurant (the only copy on the shelf!) and memories of that particular trip came flooding back. It was such a nice surprise to find something that could evoke such pleasant memories of the trip. The book is shrink wrapped but YES I BOUGHT IT!!!! I couldn't resist it and since I had the 20% discount voucher, it means I HAD THE PERFECT EXCUSE!

 

Tonight, I will lovingly caress this book and dig out photos from my trip to Maui.

I AM THE FASTIDIOUS GOURMET

Here's your personality profile!

THE FASTIDIOUS GOURMET With a mind that's as sharp as a sushi chef's knife, you invariably reach your desired destination faster than your less disciplined colleagues. Your organizational skills are superb. Truly a practical 'take charge' type, you tend to feel most comfortable when you're in full control of the menu, the itinerary and your own remote control. You rationalize small setbacks as golden opportunities to learn and grow. Adversity never fazes you - it whets your appetite for challenge. Rather than allow others to push your buttons, you sagely strive to understand your own psyche. That deep self-understanding usually gives rise to fast-track career advancement. Romantically, your ideal partner is a delicious dish who will happily salivate with you over... a delicious dish. You would rather visit your favourite black pepper crab place for the hundredth time - this year - than take your chances at a trendy new eatery that hasn't yet earned its stripes. In every sector of your life, you opt for reliability over hit-or-miss experimentation.   So said the Discovery Travel & Living Channel about me!

Taiwanese Porridge

I was suppose to post the kimchi verdict a few nights ago (Thursday to be exact) when first I got distracted by a puppy whose neurons are firing off a lot of new urges, then when my hubby came back, he offered to take me out for dinner.

So we decided to go to Chun Tin road, and then decide which stall to eat from when we are there.

When I saw the Taiwanese porridge, I wanted to have my dinner there, since I like porridge and I wasn't very inclined for a ultra full meal even though he's offering to treat me. Anyway, he agreed and after quick scan of the menu, we ordered the following:

1. Plain porridge for him and sweet potato porridge for me
2. Chow Lala (some kind of clams)
3. Sambal kangkong (our favourite - we try to order this wherever we go)
4. Mince pork steamed with salted egg yolk


Verdict:

Sambal kangkong $4

The sambal kangkong is simply delicious! With the right amount of chilli, wetness and just nicely cooked kangkong, it was yummy and goes very well with the porridge.

Steamed mince pork patty with salted egg yolk $5 (i think)

The steamed mince pork patty was extremely good too! With the right amount of fats and pork, the pork patty was not over crumbly - definitely not hard and over cooked! The salted egg yolk was a marvel, I wondered how they managed to get it flattened out and cover the pork patty so nicely! Yummilicious!

The chow lala however was a letdown, this about $4 to $5 also, but not worth ordering at all.

Porridge wise, forget about the sweet potato porridge. It comes nowhere close being even 1% near to my majie's standards.

verdict on my kimchi

Well, finally got the chance to taste the kimchi myself and have some peace in the house - Rascal is out to attend his "life skills level 1" at West Coast Park this morning.

There are a few bit of things I wanted to post too, but I guess I'll get along to it in due time, if I remember what they are about!

Ok, verdict on my kimchi:

Good: With or without the Chinchalok it still taste GOOD - just like the kimchi you can buy off the shelves.

Bad: It's too salty - haha yes I forgot to do something while I was making it again. Although my hubby likes it a lot (and he insist that the kimchi must be COLD), I have to take into account he loves over salted food. It's strange though, I thought with the additional ingredients of the carrots, radish and chives it would reduce the saltiness from the salted veggies somewhat but it didn't. I guess adding the chinchalok also up the saltiness factor a bit. Anyhow, under salted food is a lot easier to compensate for than overly salted food!

So what did I forget to do? Only one of the kimchi recipe I've read mentioned about this and I think it's GOOD advice since I've already done it and forgot about the advice.

IMPORTANT TIP WHEN MAKING KIMCHI:

After you have finish soaking the veggies in the salt water, take a piece (the thicker part of the leaves if using the chinese cabbage or a piece of the radish if using radish) at taste it. Meaning take a bite and swirl it around in your mouth. IT SHOULD BE AS SALTY AS YOU REQUIRE IT TO BE. If it's not salty enough, soak longer.

If it's TOO salty (like my case), drain immediately, squeeze as much liquid out as possible and soak in a pot of cold fresh water. After every 10 minutes, check on it. When it's just the right saltiness, drain and proceed as directed as listed in the recipe.

Also, if you remember in my earlier post that I took it out to "ferment" out of the fridge? I left it out from Sunday night to Tuesday night in one of my cupboards - pick on room or cupboard of which no direct sunlight hits any of its wall - that should be the coolest spot than under your bed.

Then check on it time to time, release the gas if the cover (a container with a good tight lid is IMPORTANT) seems bloated outwards.

To refresh your memories, the recipe is located here.

kimchi and more humping

was going to post about how my kimchi tasted but i got distracted by Rascal who, in the absence of my hubby's ankles, has decided to use my elbow as a makedo for ankles.

My arm is pretty scratched up, not to mention my hand is pretty chewed up - in his confusion why the sudden urge to hump something, he is probably to feed off some of the drive by chewing my hand, not that it will give him the same satisfaction.

I cannot wait for my hubby to be back, so that I can write my piece about kimchi in peace.

coffee and the act of humping

I made a cup of coffee with some toffee syrup for my hubby earlier ... not sure if the smell was a turn on for my Rascal, but it's the first time I see him try to hug my hubby's ankles and trying to hump it!

So far, it's been 4 or 5 times since we started noticing it (my hubby complained first about his ankle being humped) and we are now staring at him everytime he makes a move on my hubby's legs ...

My baby is growing up way too fast!

fizzy kimchi?

Not sure if my Kimchi is edible – ended up leaving it in my cupboard for 2 whole days (says dark cool place so that is probably the best place to put it). They did also say will have built up gas, so to release from time to time (my cabbage one a lot of more gas than my radish one – but my radish is giving out more water. Why?!?!).

 

Anyway it’s now back in the fridge before it explodes in my cupboard (I cannot imagine the scene – will it be like my first encounter with the chinchalok?) and I’ll probably ask the official tester to try it tonight.

 

And why I say fizzy is because according to the recipe / comments by the chef, the contents will SETTLE. Looking at my kimchi, they seem to be on the verge of exploding (can see lots of air bubbles between the leaves) – the lid is pretty arched outwards.

 

Gladware boxes are pretty handy and secure for this experiment! Maybe I can give up on my Tupperware obsessions and stick to Gladware – cheaper and though no as lasting as Tupperware, it so much easier to clean and less heartbreaking if I scratch it!

My Kimchi recipe

I cannot guarantee you will not suffer from diahorrea if you try this - so it's a calculated risk you have to take.

Ingredients for Group A - The veggies part
2 to 3 lbs (900g to 1.4kg) of chinese cabbage or white carrot (radish)
1/2 cup of salt

Method for Group A
1. for Chinese cabbage, remove the outer leaves or any part that looks spoilt, dented or mouldy. If you are not sure, just get rid of it.
2. Quarter the entire cabbage lengthwise. Just cut it into half along the length, and then cut the half into half along the length again.
3. Cut off the bottom root portion (the part that holds all the leaves together) and slice into smaller pieces (make 1 inch to 1.5 inch cuts width wise along the length).
4. Rinse and drain well.
5. For radish, peel the skin and remove the head and bottom. Cut into 1 inch cubes. Rinse and drain well.
6. Add water to the salt to make a solution. Stir until all the salt has dissolved.
7. Add the veggies to the salt solution, cover with a plate to weigh down the floating bits and leave it for 2 to 5 hours (I leave it overnight).
8. When time's up, take a piece of the thickest veggie part and taste it. If it's just the right degree of saltiness , drain and rinse the veggies well. Squeeze dry the veggies (don't have to use all your strength to do it, just give a QUICK hard squeeze) and set aside. Else Drain it overnight. If it's TOO salty, drain immediately, squeeze out as much liquid as possible, and soak in fresh cold water. Check on every until to the desired saltiness.

Ingredients for Group B - the Kimchi seasoning part
1. 1 small to medium white carrot (radish) (if you are using radish for the main veggies, you can omit this)
2. 2 carrots
3. 1 bunch of spring onions
4. 1 bunch of chives (In cantonese we call it "kow choy")
5. 4 cloves of garlic
6. a small piece of ginger (enough to give u 1 tablespoon worth of grated ginger)
7. 2 tablespoon of sugar
8. 4 to 6 heaped tablespoon of chilli powder (more if you like spicy)
9. Optional: 2 tablespoon Chinchalok (or anchovy paste)

Method for Group B
1. Peel and shred coarsely the radish and carrots.
2. Remove any withered parts and roots for the spring onions and chives. Chop finely. See below

3. Mince garlic finely.
4. Grate the ginger finely.

From left: Grated ginger and Minced garlic

5. Mix all the ingredients together and set aside.

Now for the final Kimchi prepartion bit.
1. Mix with the kimchi seasoning as detailed in Group B.

2. Store into a container with a tight fitting lid and leave it at the room temp for 1 to 3 days for fermenting. Pick a spot - a storeroom or a cupboard where there is no direct sunlight. make sure none of its walls are being hit by direct sunlight too. Else the room will be way too warm and you prob need to check on it more frequently.

I use Gladware 1.89L box. After the 3 days is up, chuck it into the fridge. It's ready for eating after 3 days in the fridge.

If it's not salty enough, you could always sprinkle some. It's quite difficult to "rescue" "It's too salty" kimchi, else use it to make soups which I plan to do so.

Project Kimchi!

So now you know what secret project I've been working on :P

I've been looking through various recipes - recipe books, recipes on the web ...

Yes, that's where the term "julienne" came about ...

Anyway I finally decide to get down and do it, hence the explosive Chinchalok. You must be wondering, "Chinchalok with Kimchi? Huh?".

Well, based on my research as well as kimchi conversations with Liangxin (he spent quite a fair bit of time based in South Korea), I believe that the "better tasting" kimchi comes with a secret ingredient in the process - seafood. Some state prawn paste, oysters and anchovy paste.

As for the salting process, I decided to go with the brine method. It would provide an even distribution of salt and besides, all I needed to do was to make the salt solution and dump the veggies in, then cover with a plate to keep the veggies down. I think it was easier than trying to toss the veggies with the salt to distribute evenly or to painsakingly sprinkle salt in every layer of the veggies.

Since at least 2 of the recipes stated prawn paste which is same as salted prawns, I figured I could use Chinchalok instead. Reason being 1. Chinchalok ingredients are prawns and salt (therefore = salted prawns right?) 2. I would be very squeamish about salting raw prawns and mixing into the veggies to ferment together - fear factor images come into my mind! Chinchalok would be considered the safe choice it's already processed food.

As for the taste, hehe, sorry I won't know yet. It's worse than the 72 hours wait for the Kueh Lapis. This is going to take about 1 week.

It's strange though, when I mix the kimchi marinade/ seasoning without the veggies, it already smelt like kimchi. Though it smelt a bit strange after adding the Chinchalok!

For vegetarians, you can skip the prawns bit. Most of the packaged kimchis sold doesn't contain meat of any kind.

It wasn't very difficult to do. Serious!

My kimchi recipe (if you DARE to try) is in the next post with some pics.

Chinchalok and expiry dates

Ok, Cold Storage didn’t sell me a expired bottle of Chinchalok … and how did I know?

 

I went down to Carrefour last night and bought the same brand again (only one brand of it anyway) and I noted the numbers on the bottle. Same numbers but this time round, on the label, they have a HUGE expiry date marked there. So fine with me, I can only hope this bottle don’t explode on me too.

 

There were a few bottles so I thought I’ll pick a bottle without any of the shrimps pushed to the top. Yes! It didn’t explode on me this time when I was grappling with the bottle.

 

I will reveal tonight what secret project I’ve been working on that required the Chinchalok … keep your eyes peeled!

How will you live your life?

Nope I'm not going to answer that for you.

 

Want to figure it out? Check it out @ http://quizfarm.com/

 

Enough quizzes to shut down those "what ifs" voices in your head. By the way, it's probably the "me" that's doing the talking in your head.

 

Link discovered by courtesy of Lostsis!

Disaster strikes again

*grrr* this is probably one of the few times I'm actually mad with Cold Storage. Why? Because I believe they sold me an expired bottle of Chinchalok.

I was trying to open it and basically it just EXPLODED like a bottle of vigrously shaken bottle of champagne. Imagine the baby shrimps flying out and then oozing out like the bubbles. I had to clean myself, my kitchen walls, my washing machine, my kitchen floor, my yard floor and my cabinets! *ARGH* and they all STINK! I had to do a wipe down, spray detol, and wipe again ...

It's JUST so disgusting!

And why I think the bottle is expired? I was checking the bottle of expiry date and the only numbers printed on the bottle was XXX23XX05. I was like "WHAT??? EXPIRED????" There was no other numbers or date of expiry printed (SingLong was the brand of the chinchalok). So my guess would be the expiry year is 2005!

And I BOUGHT IT ONLY 2 WEEKS AGO!

Versatile Salmon Mayo Mix

You can even call it Salmon Mousse if you do it another way! Anyhow this is my version, served on a slice of cucumber.

As in my previous post, all it requires is 4 ingredients (excluding the cucumbers - I'll explain later).

Raw Salmon (Sashimi grade), Japanese mayonaise, prawn roe and Chilli oil (La You).

Sashimi grade Salmon can be bought from Takashimaya or Bugis Junction, within the Cold Storage. I bought mine from this retail shop operated by a Japanese restuarant in Ginza Plaza.

As above, you can purchase from the same stores. There are 2 types of roe sold, one which is slightly bigger in size than this (not the huge Salmon eggs). I prefer this as I find the other a lot more fishier in taste.

This is the Japanese Chilli Oil, you can buy it from most supermarkets.

I don't have a pic of the Mayo, but it's quite common, with a baby in front. Ok, I am borrowing an image from Amazon for your easy reference.

They also have a healthier version which you can use - 50% fat of the original I think. Availbale at most supermakets - Cold Storage is fail proof in case you do not wish to try your luck.

The quantity is up to you. Basically i threw in everything as below and stir and mix. If it's not hot enough, I add more chilli oil. If it's not sourish enough, I add a bit more mayo. The prawn roe will give the salty taste.

This is my version with Salmon Cubes. By the way, I saved a bit of the prawn roe and when it's done, I sprinkle them on top to make it look prettier.

Now, you can actually make Salmon Mousse with the exact same ingredients. Only change is you need a blender - toss in the salmon, mayo and chilli oil. Process by pulse method (press and release) so that you still have some pieces of visible salmon meat. Take out and mix in the prawn roe. Serve it as a dip with plain corn chips (those nachos type) or with ritz biscuits. It will also go well with toasted bread (any type).

Personality reading from your handwriting

Don't say I keep the good things to myself =)

This is good stuff ... click this and try it for yourself.

Most of the feedback I've gotten is 80% accurate and they were pretty amazed. Hmmm maybe I should ask them for some endorsement fees!