Yoghurt Fish

It has been many moons since the last time I cooked fish for us. Every time, I visit the supermarket the fishes aren't fresh at all and I don't have the habit of buying from the market. One because my hubby doesn't like to accompany me there and two I don't know if I'm being cheated or not. For all I know, the supermarket could be cheating me as well...

I bought black pomphret and 2 slices of Garoupa, I actually planned to make chicken burger for dinner but changed my mind at the last minute when I saw the fishes.

It's been some time since I cooked a complete meal for dinner, I usually go for something fast and simple to save time. Yesterday, I felt I should cook something assumptious that both of us will love and so I did.




First I marinated the garoupa with chilli powder, tumeric powder and salt and set a side.

I cleaned the pomphret, I usually make sure that I clean my meat products before freezing them in the freezer as this keeps the freezer clean and the next time I decide to cook meat, I could just defrost and start cooking. It takes less time. Besides, it's really unhealthy to keep uncleaned meat in freezer. I'm keeping the pomphret for a rainy day.

Right, after cleaning the fish. I cooked rice. I heated up oil to fry the fish. In the mean time, I prepared the ingredients for the yoghurt sauce, cut onions for the vegie stir fry and cut ladies fingers.



1 Onions
Cardamoms
Star Anise
Cloves
Cinnamon Sticks
1 tsp Cumin Powder
2 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Tumeric Powder
5 tsb or more Yoghurt, the more yoghurt the more sour it'll taste.

Heat up oil and add onions, cinnamon, cardamoms, star anise and cloves. Let it simmer and stir in cumin powder, chilli powder and tumeric powder. Tumeric powder gives the colour and you may add more chilli powder as you wish, if you like it spicy that is. Add the yoghurt once the strong smell of the spices starts tickling your nostrils. Stir well and let it boil. You may add the fried fish in the sauce just before turning of the fire but I prefer to serve it separately as we have different likings of how we eat our meals.



This dish goes well with stir fried ladies fingers. This is a simple and a common dish. I just love ladies fingers.

All done and served, the meal was too much for us though it was only 2 slices of fish but they were 2 huge slices of fish.

We were so full and we ended up comparing our bellies.

There were some left overs, especially rice and some ladies fingers. That'll be kept of the next day. Perhaps, I should cook something the complements the leftovers...hehehe.

Wantan Mee!!

I have already posted the recipe in the past and here's the pic. I actually planned to make chapati with Mutton Keema, since we reached home pretty late and my hubby has to leave for his weekly badminton, I opted for Wantan Mee instead.

Cooking it was rather a tragedy though, I usually use the rice pot to boil water as it does its job faster than using the stove, and this time it let me down. I boiled water to douse the wantan mee.

My rice pot is rather old; it releases just too much steam and floods the rest of the area. Those of you, who have been to my house, would have noticed where I keep my electrical appliances.

Well, all my appliances are stacked on Ikea’s wooden rack that only cost me about RM20. In the top shelf I have my rice pot, slow cooker and blender. Second shelf, I have my microwave oven and the third shelf I have my Conventional Oven.

Too bad, I was rather frightened by the whole thing and forgot to document the tragedy with photos. My rice pot looks something like this.

The cup that collects water started to leak and flooded the rack, which leaked to my microwave oven and all the way to my conventional oven. By the time, I realized what was happening water have already reached the floor. I called my hubby for help and we turned off all the switches that connects the electrical appliances except the rice pot coz I was still dousing my wantan mee in it.

Just when I opened the rice pot lid, power tripped. At that time, my hubby was busy playing his PS3 game and sparkle busy sleeping, what else does she do anyways.

The trip startled everyone and my tiny heart starting pumping faster than usual not because of the trip, I was even more frightened to what my hubby was going to say. My hubby didn’t manage to save his game progress…hehehe…he has to play all over again.

It was pitch dark, and there came my hero to the rescue. My rice pot tripped the power supply. Sigh…this what happens when you misuse the rice pot.

The wantan mee that I was dousing in the rice pot was over cooked it looked like a blob. I had to boil water on the stove like everybody else, which I should have done in the beginning.

A meal that supposed to take me an hour, took me almost 2 hours. I wasn’t hungry anymore, I doused a fresh set of wantan mee for my hubby and made a complete meal only for him. The blob of wantan mee made me loose my appetite.

I feasted on the fried wantan, thinking what a dumbass I was.

Chicken Mcdreamy

I have been missing for some time now, not only have I been busy at work but I've been busy at home too...watching NCIS....hehehe...

Anyways, upon popular demand I am back to revive my blog ever so energized as before.

So, here's my story......

Last Tuesday I was on leave not because I wanted a day off, only because I had to clear my last year's leave balance.

Staying home, I had planned my whole day through and as usual I never follow my plans. I planned to go for my sewing class instead I stayed home and started sewing my shirt. I figured why should I waste my class hours by doing something I already know at class when I can do it at home. And so I did and of course I can't finish everything in a day. When it's done I'll post a pic of my shirt in the blog.

I was also supposed to go do a minor grocery shopping so I could prepare something for dinner and breakfast the next day. I lost track of time and didn't manage to do any of those. I only had chicken meat in the freezer and no vegies.

I figured, if I could make something out of what I have at home I could salvage it with some chapaties, no need for vegies.

I happily thawed the meat and while waiting for it to be thawed I continued with my sewing. What an irony, my hubby surprised me with chapaties and dhal and so I decided I could just marinate the chicken for the next day, as the chicken is already being thawed. I can't be throwing it back into the freezer now can I?

Since, he didn't tell me that he'll be buying dinner, he assumed that I would have cooked dinner and so, he only bought 4 chapaties with just dhal and no meat dish.

An hour after having the chapaties, he was hungry again. By then, I was too lazy to go by my plan instead I whipped out something out of the ordinary. I made Chicken Mcdreamy...errr I didn't give that name though..

I strained my well thawed chicken, checked the fridge for anything that I could salvage for the marination and found yoghurt not much about 2 tablespoons of it. I also found garam masala, not in the fridge but in my cabinet with the rest of the stock I keep in there. No dish is good without some chilli powder and of course onions. Onions because I was already soaking it in the water much earlier to soften the skins so it's easier to peel.

I was just too lazy to stand cook and so I marinated the chicken with all the ingredients I found and threw it in my bread pan...too lazy to get a proper pan....who cares anyways what pan I use as long as I have cooked some food to eat. And Oh! Don't forget to add salt!!

I cut the onions and stirred it in with the chicken, covered the chicken with aluminium foil and baked the chicken for 20 minutes.

Went back to entertaining my husband when I heard the ding. Time to stir the dish and I remembered I have curry leaves. Took a few sprigs, washed them and added them together with the chicken, there I have added some vegies to my chicken and so it's a balance diet. Stir well and I added a little olive oil. Placed the chicken back in the oven and cooked for another 20 minutes.

By then, my hubby was complaining he's getting way too hungry as the smell of the chicken is getting to him. Heard the ding again, this time he came with me hoping to be served. Got him to taste the sauce and he started gasping for air and water. It was way too spicy and he immediately started sweating...to balance the spicyness I added some milk again stirred the chicken well and placed it back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

I happen to have a very cheapo oven therefore it actually takes that long to finish cooking and now for the third ding. I checked the chicken, it is well cooked and ready to be served. I was forced to taste the sauce this time and lucky me it was just fine.

"What are you gonna call this creation?" asked my hubby, "I donno, haven't thought of a name yet." I said. "Chicken Mcdreamy," he suggested "Don't ask why I thought of that name." And there you are ladies and gentlemen, you have Chicken Mcdreamy named for no apparent reason.

Sorry, no photo...I was just too lazy...maybe I should have just named it Lazy Chicken Mcdreamy....I'm just too lazy to think of a name anyways.

Oh the verdict, "This is an excellent dish," said my hubby "and I want more"

A Tribute to My Kancil

My first car, my kancil : I bought her 9 years ago with the little money had just to show my dad I could make my own decision and get what I want.

All these years we (my hubby and I) always wanted to trade it in for new car but by destiny it never happened. I took that for granted and thought that by fate my kancil is stuck with me for life and was proud of it.

Just recently, my hubby decided to trade in my kancil for a viva. My kancil is still in good condition, despite no air-con and dead radio yet I never had any engine trouble. She protected me from bad days and was there on good days. My best friend, my kancil.

Unfortunately, it was time to let her go cause the loan was approved and they were taking in the kancil for RM7k. With the little days left with my kancil only then I realized I wasn't ready to give her away. It brought back lotsa memories.

Flashback

Told my dad I want to get a car since he doesn't allow me to drive his and neither does he enjoy doing the chauffer job. As usual, he never approves. Back then I was working in Intel and I had some shares of Intel which I can opt to sell whenever the price is right. I managed to sell it and got my colleague/best friend to take me to the nearest Perodua dealer to make my booking.

Prior to that he has already inquired all the details for me, my friend. So, all I needed to do was to take my payslips and bank statement and book the car. Even after booking the car I was contemplating if I should get a car. I was supposed to wait 3 months for the car but it was already moving to it's fourth month. I called up the salesman and I said "I'm cancelling the car and I want my money back" He was paranoid coz I do this almost every month, he said "No miss you can't cancel the car it's already coming soon" I was mad, "That's what you've been telling me but I never see my car at all. According to akta beli kereta it says here that if I don't get my car as promised I am entitled to get my money back" He was begging, "Please la miss, please listen to me don't cancel the car. Your car is already here you can collect it tomorrow if you have time"

Wow, all of a sudden the car is ready and I can even collect it tomorrow. I managed to take leave few days later and went to JPJ with him. I can say that this salesman is an asshole. He refused to allow me to pick my own number, I had to fight with him in JPJ to do so. All he did was lecture and lecture and I had to shut him up. What an ass.

It was time to drive the car out, after getting my driving license in 1997 I never had a chance to drive a manual car, let alone drive any car properly. I've been practising in my head on changing gears coz I bought a manual not only that it's cheaper but the pick up and fuel consumption is so much better than an automatic.

Holding the steering wheel I told myself this is my very own car and I can drive her anywhere I want without asking my dad's permission. With quarter petrol I had in the tank I bravely drove my kancil to the nearest Shell station and vowed to myself that I will only pump shell and I did until my husband started driving it.

Anyways, that kancil took me places lotsa a places.

I drove around Penang, I was even a tour guide for my colleagues from India. She has seen all the parts of Penang and I thank her for helping me achieve that. Because of her I took music classes, I get to come home for lunch on Fridays since we had 2 hours lunch and I can park her anywhere.

Oh by the way, I only told my dad I'm getting the car one day before...hehehhe...

I made sure she gets her regular maintenance, she was well taken care of. Regular washing, vacumming, she always smells good.

My kancil was my first car and I never knew anything about running-in. I thought for a new car you have to get it trained to your driving style and so that it'll get seasoned. I drove it fast and vigorously and made sure she was very well trained and seasoned. hhehehe...thank god my ignorance never caused any problems to her.

My first dent wasn't noticeable, that time the parking space in Intel PG9 wasn't tarred yet. That area was filled with lotsa rocks, big ones. I super heroicly accelerated too much and bumped into one of the large rocks which caused a dent near the wheel arch. You can't see it that easily unless you look at it closely.

I saw that her side skirting peeled off, I took her to the service centre and told them to do something to the side skirting, after thorough checking the mechanic realized that it is actually a dent that made the side skirting peel off. They don't cover that in the service centre, instead he recommended somewhere else. I never repaired that dent cause it isn't visible. I put up a drama at the service centre actually. I said, "Perodua jual saya kereta accident ka? Saya that langgar apa-apa pun. Saya mau kereta baru" with a chuckle he said "Sorry miss, you kena check masa ambil kereta, sekarang tak boleh buat apa-apa la" Oh well I did try.

The first scratch on the car was done by someone out of jealousy. Cause, we had three cars my dad's, mine and my sister's. We park all three cars in a row and scratch was in a row on all three cars. I cried everytime I saw the scratch until I got over it of cause.

She even went through cockroach infestation, one night my sister and I was on the way home from our music class and suddenly we heard something being squashed and foul smell came through the air cond vent. Then we realized a cockroach was killed in it's attempt to escape the deadly fans.

My hubby's first trip to Penang, I was there to pick him up in my kancil. We went to lotsa places, it was so much of fun. Then it was time for me to move to KL. The luxuries my kancil had slowly vanished.

Having to live in a rented place gave us little money to take care of my car. She never had her maintenance as regularly as she should. I never had time to wash her regularly, she was always dirty but I managed to keep her smell good.

Her first visible dent occured when the tong sampah man used the bonet as a leverage to carry something heavy. That cause a visible dent, I cried discreetly for days. I didn't have enough money to even repair that. By now she had more scratches and dents that wasn't even caused by me.

The beauty of my car slowly vanished when my husband met into an accident, all the junk from his car, believe me they were all junk, it was transferred into my car and was left there for months and months turned into years. Even after he got it cleaned, she never remained clean.

We sparkle and she left her pee stains on that car back seat and vomit stains on the front passenger seat.

Slowly, her door knobs started detoriating, one by one starting breaking and I can only open the door from inside and not outside. It was so embarrassing when all four doors could not be opened from outside. The only way in was from the boot and thank god it's considered to be the fifth door. Imagine if it was an ordinary boot.

I went for interviews in that car in that condition. Since the doors can be opened from inside, I tied a string to the handle of the back door from inside and made sure he string is long enough from the boot. I had to open the boot, pull the string which opens the back door, closing the boot, open the back door and from there open the driver side door, close the back door and get in the front to drive the car. Imagine if it was an emergency and I'm being chased by people just to rob me. I run to my car in faith that I can drive off but instead of jumping through the front door. I had to do what I do to get in the front door. Even if I were to jump in from the boot, I may have to ask the help from the those chasing me to close the boot for me. They'd probably feel sorry for me and leave me alone. hehehe.

I have used my kancil as a lorry before transporting furniture and luggages when were moving house. She was also my trusty transporter when we bought things from Ikea. She has been through a lot and we did it together.

I finally repaired all the four doors and just to change the handles it cost me RM50 each and it wasn't even the same colour of my car, coz if it's the same colour it would have cost much more. I had to change it to black colour handles. Since it was all four doors it wasn't that bad.

Whenever I had money I tried to take her for her regular maintenance, got her washed and cleaned. I was in the tyre shop changing tyres for her and the mechanic checked her aircond and told me that if I don't change the gas, my compressor will start failing. I called and told my hubby about it and he said RM50 to change the gas is too expensive. I told him to find somewhere cheaper before it's too late.

As usual, he sat on it and my compressor failed. We tried repairing it twice but to no avail. It was running on hot air and it's frustrating whenever it rains, the windows fog up.

The first official accident happened in Jalan Tun Razak on the way to work. Involving a bike and a car. Surprisingly, there wasn't even a dent on the car but I was told it was my fault somehow. Not knowing what to do I accepted the blame and made a police report at the wrong police station. Few weeks later I received a letter saying that I had to go to police station to report myself or I'll be taken to court. I got that settled with my hubby's help...hehehe...

The first time we tried to trade her in was when my hubby decided to buy the new city when it was first launched for the first time. The salesman told us that the kancil isn't gonna go that much coz it was bearing penang plate.

The second time was when my hubby wanted to get a pick up truck, this salesman was willing to take the kancil for RM15k that was in the year 2005. That didn't happen either coz we weren't such a good pay master for the other personal loan we had and so the loan wasn't approved. He had another car of his own but since his mom bought that for him, he was told to never sell it and so he only had chance to sell mine though deep in my heart I never wanted to let go of her coz I told myself I wouldn't sell her.

The 3rd time was when he wanted to get the Mitsubishi Lancer and again due to the Penang plate they weren't giving it a good price.

She survived 3 times of trade in and I took that for granted. The fourth time, it was time the to let go. One reason, it's best to let go before the price starts to depriciate even further and second before the engine starts failing. Good points but I wasn't ready though I told him I was thinking selling the car too. It was sad for me coz she was the first car I bought with my own hard earned cash going against my father and I had to let her go.

I felt sorry for him for not having his own car bearing his name as the car owner. The iswara that he owned he had to return it his mother. I don't understand the concept of gift and then take it back by saying it's my car my money, how sick.

I decided to sacrifice my kancil for him so that he is proud to have a car with his name as the owner. Too bad when we bought the Lancer we wanted to transfer the NCB and mine was 55% that's why the Lancer turned out to be mine. Otherwise, it'll be his car, no doubt whenever people ask I tell them the Lancer's my husband's car. I never say it's mine only when he decides to modify it that I remind him it's mine, coz it was the reasoning he gave me to buy such an expensive car.

The viva was ready for collection on the 25th of February, I wanted the viva to at least have my kancil's number but since he is buying it under his name and the kancil was under mine we couldn't transfer the plate number. Then the salesman said that the running number now in JPJ is starting at 1000 and with high hopes I figured we would get the same number at least. But he couldn't. All this is making me cry coz until today I'm still not over the fact that I have given away my kancil for the love I have for my husband.

What's even worst is that I don't even have a proper closure, I don't even have any photos of my car, my kancil. I wanted him to let go of the car on 27th not only that it's a good day but also I have more time with the car but he couldn't care less and decided to take the car on the 25th.

Everything happened so fast, I told him to take a photo of the car once we reach the dealers place but with his excitement of getting his new car he forgot. I was too emotional to even remember. There she went driven by someone else away from me.

I never got to say good bye to her, neither do I have any memories of her. It is so sad. I'm crying now while writing this blog. Everytime I sit in the viva I think of my kancil, it is too much for me to bare. I know people will be thinking it's just a car but it wasn't just a car for me, she was my best friend, I shared all my secrets with her and yes I do talk to her whenever I drive.

I was hoping we could at least take a photo of her just for my closure and got my hubby to find her. He later found out that she was taken to Taiping on the very night we gave her away. Knowing that made me cry over and over coz I will never get to see her again.

If any of you happened to be in Taiping and saw a Gold Kancil with Black Door Handles bearing number plate PEN 1809 please help me take a photo of it. I need it rather badly, coz I can't stop crying. I just wish nobody buys her until I have enough money to purchase her back.

I made my hubby happy but I had to get separated from something that I dearly love.

I love you small little kancil that I never managed to name you at all. Wherever you are I'm always thinking of you. You are always in my mind and in my memory.

Dinner on Valentines Day

I'm sure you'd be wondering happened to lunch, after eating world's worst nasi lemak ever, we weren't hungry for lunch at all.

We grabbed some snacks, played Alone in the Dark on our PS3 and soon it was dinner time. About 4pm I asked my husband if we are going out for dinner or eating at home. Coz, if it's the latter then I will need time to thaw the meat. I haven't a clue of what to cook for the romantic night.

For us it's the same every other night, something to look forward to for dinner. So, it isn't any different for last night but shockingly my hubby said he'd cook for me. Aww, that's so romantic. He has done that maybe about 6 years ago when he wanted to impress me during our courtship.

This is awesome. When I asked what he was going to cook, he didn't have a clue and I know that feeling as I have the same dilemma every night when I had to cook. Then he said, "Butter chicken, I want to eat butter chicken. But I bet you don't have the ingredients for it, don't you"

"No, I have all the ingredients except yoghurt and coriander leaves." I said with a smug on my face. My coriander plant that I planted died, so there goes fresh coriander when I need them.

I quickly went and thawed the chicken. Well of course, he wasn't able to cook all alone. I was his kitchen helper and supervisor at the same time.

"Ok, what should I do first?", he asked "the chicken is thawed, perhaps you could clean and cut the chicken," I suggested "Yuck, no way, you cut the chicken. Give me something else to do" he grossed out. Then I said, "You could cut the onions, ginger and garlic". "Never mind, I'll clean and cut the chicken, you cut the onions, I don't want to cry like you", he said.

While he was cleaning and cutting the chicken, I had to cry cutting the onions. He also had to entertain the other kitchen helper who was going histerical with the chicken smell.

"What does she wants, why is she like scolding me?" He asked, "The smell of chicken is killing her, I have some raw meat for her, you could heat it up for her to eat. Then she'll leave you a lone", I took and gave him her raw meat.

I usually keep raw meat for her in the fridge, he did what I did for her. He took the meat and let it heat in the microwave while he continued cleaning and cutting the chicken. When the microwave done with her meal, she reminded him of feeding her and he did.

Once her stomach was full, she left us alone to our work.

He then marinated the chicken with salt and coarse black pepper. While the chicken is being marinated, he started to make the sauce.

25grams of butter was melted then the onions was sacrificed followed by the minced garlic and ginger. Then he added cinnamon powder, chilli powder. While that was simmering, I started the other stove to sautee the chicken.

I had to give it to him, he was juggling between the stoves like a pro and constantly asking me what to do next. He then added tomato puree and a cup of water. Letting it simmer, while he was sauteeing the chicken.

To replace the yoghurt, I had him pour milk instead. Since, he used tomato puree the dish will have it's natural sour taste. So, that's a balance for not having yoghurt. The sauce needs to thicken before adding the chicken and the chicken was ready, he added the chicken in the sauce.

He had to leave to simmer, I replace the sautee pan with a flat pan to heat up the ready made tortillas that I had. Again, he was juggling between 2 stoves.

The meal was ready, simple yet full of love. Being the kitchen helper, I helped him serve his meal to our guests. That's us, him and I....hehehe...

Our valentines meal prepared by my hubby, a day to remember and cherish by. My best valentines ever, it beats all the gifts, flowers and fancy restaurant. Having to eat a meal cooked by my hubby is the best gift ever.

Breakfast on Valentines Day

14th February being the lovers day, we had to change our routine a bit to accommodate Sparkle's groomer. Usually, her grooming takes place on Saturday evenings and for yesterday we had to change it to morning. While she was in the salon, we went to temple then we were off to have breakfast.

We used to live in USJ and normally have our breakfast at Tanjung Mamak Bistro at USJ 9. Having breakfast at a mamak will normally mean roti canai, thosai or nasi lemak. These are the standard meals always being ordered and the taste could never go wrong.

We ordered nasi lemak telur goreng for both and milo ice plus nescafe ais respectively. Our drinks came in a smug looking mugs with Tanjung Mamak Bistro written on it. Then came the nasi lemak, looked ok but tastes......

How could anyone go wrong with nasi lemak. It is one of the dishes that taste almost similar to any other mamak.

I have attached my half eaten meal coz I didn't think I'd be posting about it, sooner. The presentation was ok but the taste...there isn't any taste. The sambal was flat, just flat, it wasn't spicy or sweet. It was nothing.

The rice had too much santan and strangely the rice was grey in colour. How could that happen? They used the cheapest ikan bilis in the market, it wasn't fried properly as it was soft and not crunchy. It was extremely salty. Maybe that's why the sambal and rice had no taste. Coz, when you mix everything and eat them all together, everything has salt in it. Well, thank you to the saltiest ikan bilis ever.

The fried egg was so-so. My husband, he said "It's the world's worst nasi lemak I have ever tasted" hehehe...

Never order nasi lemak at Tanjung Mamak Bistro, USJ9. No challenge this time as my hubby knows my nasi lemak tastes better anytime. :P

Weekend Meal

Hehehe...I got too busy writing what happened over the weekend and totally forgot to write about what I cooked...

Well, we got home around 11pm and I straight away started cooking...hmm...before that I had to greet my hysterical kitchen helper, Sparkle the dog...hehehe...

I always enjoyed eating Wan Tan Mee but never tried cooking until last weekend. I didn't get the recipe from anywhere else but from my memory. Hehehe...yeah! When I was 16, we used to eat wan tan mee every weekend.

This wan tan mee uncle puts up his stall near my place only during the weekends. He serves the best wan tan mee that I ever tasted, not sure of any hidden ingredient that he may have used though.

Oh well! I used to watch him cook while I wait for my mee to go to be ready. I don't just watch instead I managed to squeeze the recipe out of him and I forgot about it until last Sunday when I was out grocery shopping with my hubby.

When I walked past the raw wan tan mee at the supermarket, it all came back to me. The recipe was fresh in my mind.

When I got home I had to do everything from scratch, I don't really like to buy the minced meat from the store, as they mince the skin and fat together with the meat. Mostly fat and skin actually. So, I usually buy breast meat and mince the meat myself. Yeah! I used chicken, don't really know how to buy pork.

Anyways, the fried wan tan recipe is all mine. The wan tan mee Uncle only gave me the recipe for dry wan tan mee.

Fried Wan Tan Recipe

Wan Tan skins
Minced Meat
Lea & Perrins Sauce
Salt
Parsley - finely cut
Pepper

Mix all the ingredients and stuff them in the wan tan skin and fry them...voila fried wan tan is ready!!

Wan Tan Mee Recipe

Oyster Sauce
Light Soya Sauce
Dark Soya Sauce
Pepper
Wan Tan Mee
Sawi

Mix all the sauces and pepper. Boil water and cook the vegetable and wan tan mee al dante. Mix the mee with the sauces and gently cut the vegetable and arrange them beautifully on the mee.

Fried Chicken Meat Recipe (didn't have char siew so improvised)

Marinate breast meat with
Lea & Perrins Sauce
Pepper
Salt

Coat the whole breast meat with bread crumps and pan fry it. Once done cut in thin strips and arrange gently on the mee.

Your meal is ready to eat and all done within an hour.

Sorry no photo...I got too hungry to even remember to take photos...

My hubby loved it and he requested for second round!! Meal served in an hour, don't you just love to cook!!?

Weekend Special

Long weekend came and left...*big sigh*....it's back to work tomorrow...*bigger sigh*....guess what?! We went to many places over the weekend nothing exciting or special just that I get to go out over the weekend was a big thing for me. I don't really get out much during the weekend.

We had lunch outside but dinner, I insisted to myself that I'll be cooking. We went to Lowyat plaza, having to escape the crowd at Thaipusam brought me to the similar crowd in lowyat plaza. A guy with a baby stroller just ran over my foot and when i screamed in pain he gave me look like "why are you in my way" I was thinking a simple sorry will do no need to stare at me that way, it was as though I purposely put my foot under his stroller wheels.

Anyways, after that we stopped by Midvalley for shopping for our dear pets. I had to get more wood shavings for Nico the iguana and some treats for Sparkle the dog....hehehe....Then we were off to Hartamas shopping mall for some crowd free grocery shopping.

I completed my grocery shopping and it was about 8.30pm just as we were about to leave, I remembered that I needed to get a new phone for my mom and we went scouting for good cheap phones. Went to the same stall we bought a cheap good phone before, it looked open but no one was there. Thinking that the sales guy must have gone to toilet and so we waited.

It was almost to 10 to 9pm, he can't be stuck in the toilet too long. It's either he is taking a very long crap or probably died in there. I found a handphone number on one of their flyers, hoping it belongs to that sales guy, rang the number and got the boss. He told us to wait another 10 minutes and his sales guy will arrive with stocks.

We waited till 9.10pm, called him again and again he asked to wait another 10 minutes. My last final call I told my hubby, he gave us another 10 minutes. My hubby was getting rather impatient told me that in 10 minutes if no one comes we are leaving.

10 minutes was up, and I begged for another 5 minutes. Finally, the sales guy arrived. Boy am I glad to see him. Got what we wanted and we got further delayed coz my dear hubby was intrigued with a nokia phone. The very brand that he once sworn never to use. I used to use a nokia phone and he made me change to motorola then now we got a nokia phone for him.

Just before leaving the mall, my hubby asked me again if I'm cooking. I said yes I am with lotsa excitement.

Guess what time we reached home? 11pm.

The Recipe!

Now that you have read how to prepare the dish and I know you'd be wondering how it tasted. Well obviously it taste better than Dave's Deli's cheapo chicken chop. I would say I'd charge the same to my customers and they wouldn't mind paying the price for a good meal.

Here's the recipe....

It’ll be good if you could marinate the chicken the night before, as it’ll make the chicken taste so much better but if you are in a rush like how I was then go crazy and marinate just minutes before cooking it.

Since, I go on estimation basis it’s a bit hard for me to determine how much of the ingredients I used on the meals I prepare. Once you have learned the taste of each ingredient you’d know how generous or stingy you should be when using these ingredients.

Marinate
2 – 3 Boneless Skinless Breast Pieces --> reason I use breast piece instead of the traditional drumstick is because the breast piece do not contain that much fat as compared to the drumstick piece
Lea & Perins Worcestershire Sauce – I just simply love the smell of the sauce
Pepper
Meat Tenderizer or Salt (Meat tenderizer already contains salt)

Fry
Bread Crumbs for the crunchy taste
Or
Corn Flour for the normal taste
Or
The Kentucky Flour for different taste
Oil enough to pan fry

Just make sure don’t throw in extremely wet chicken on the flour then you’ll have too much flour on it.

Sauce
1 can Tomato Soup of any brand – I like my chicken very saucy so I used one can for 2 persons, besides my husband eats for 2 so technically I’m cooking for 3.
1 Onion
Paprika – how spicy you want it, it’s up to you
Basil
Marjoram
Oregano
Fennel Seeds – crushed not powdered (sounds like shaken not stirred…hehehe)
No Salt required

If you have read my posting yesterday then you’ll know how to cook the dish. Just serve main with coleslaw or salad and French fries or mashed potatoes as side dish. I used mashed potatoes coz I don’t want to eat too many fried stuff, since the chicken is already fried why should I fry the potato….la la la la la

There you have it Chicken Chop – Hmm…why do they call it Chicken Chop the chicken isn’t even chopped. Traditionally people use the mallet to bash the chicken to tenderize it. Shouldn’t they call it Bashed Chicken with Tomato juice? *shrugs* just a thought.

I don’t think you need the recipe for mashed potato and coleslaw do you?

The Cooking!

Finally, I get to cook my meal. It was a good thing I bought boneless chicken even though I already have some in the freezer. At least I don’t have to waste time on defrosting.

First things first, I have to marinate the chicken. I quickly heated up some water in the rice pot for the potatoes. Yup! I use the rice pot for more than just cooking rice. I find that when you need to boil food, rice cooker is still the best.

I hurried along to clean the chicken, as the time now is 8.45pm. Marinated the chicken with Worcestershire sauce, pepper and meat tenderizer. Many might say you needn’t use meat tenderizer for chicken well that saves time from bashing the dead chicken meat to tender it.

While that’s marinating, I started with my coleslaw, something simple just took some mix vege with some mayonnaise and store it in the fridge to cool. Now for the sauce, cut one onion; heat up a little oil in the skillet. Throw in the onion and let it simmer. Add in Tomato Soup, yes! I didn’t use tomato ketchup instead tomato soup, it tastes much better and isn’t as sour as tomato puree. Simmer the sauce and add basil, marjoram, oregano, crushed fennel seeds and paprika all to taste. The more herbs the better.

While the sauce is simmering, I cleaned 2 russet potatoes, cubed them and threw them in the rice pot. Checked on my sauce, stir a little, taste it…hmm…needs more herbs. When everything’s in and taste is good, sauce is done.

Now for the chicken, heat up the pan….yup! I use the pan to fry my chicken so that it’ll be pan fried with less oil and not deep-fried. I floured the chicken and it’s ready to go into the oil for some pan-frying.

While all this is happening my trustee kitchen helper was getting restless…it’s my dog, she ensures my kitchen floors are squeaky clean. Anything that drops, she’s the super mop and I make sure I don’t drop anything that she shouldn’t eat. She loves the smell of raw meat, I usually feed her some plain cooked meat to satisfy her hunger in the kitchen.

The time is 9.15pm; my hubby came for a visit, meaning he came to steal some food that can be eaten and isn’t raw. By then I have already drained the potatoes and started mashing it. To his delight I handed over that task to him and gave the ingredients that needs to be added with the potatoes. While he’s doing this I was busy frying the chicken, once he’s done I gave him the honour of preparing the garlic bread. I had some French loaf and bought garlic spread at the supermarket.

I completed everything with my 2 helpers right at 9.30pm. And the meal was served.

The Journey Home

The minute the clock turned 5pm, I was ever ready to go grocery shopping to win my challenge with my husband. Sharp 6pm, I left the office to the supermarket. I needed to buy some extra ingredients that I didn’t have at home.

I got what I need and the time was 7pm…ya I took an hour to do my shopping that includes walking, getting what I need and don’t need, walking to the parking and finally leaving home.

The usual way that I take home was horrifically jammed up, had to take a different unknown route. I knew there should be a link somewhere that leads to where I live, heading towards that area I missed a turn…damn!

Never mind, I shall use my trustee GPS that came with my phone. My trustee GPS wasn't so trustee, it kept asking me to take a U-Turn…as stubborn as I am, thinking I could outsmart the dumbass GPS, I went on straight instead. I saw the signboard leading to Federal Highway, that’s fantastic…with a big grin I smartly headed that way only to realize that it was horrible that way too…sigh…so much for not taking the usual way…so much for outsmarting the traffic…sigh…

The lousy dumbass GPS can’t even find any other way instead kept asking me to make a U-Turn…I know another way through Federal Highway so I headed that way home. Only after I took the turn at Hilton did the GPS link me correctly to the way I was heading. Just imagine if it was someone who doesn't know the alternative way would be going in circles. That was the longest route home, traffice was horrible all the way home.

My stomach was growling and my bladder was full...where is home? I felt like I was dying...yeah I'm a bit like a drama queen. I finally reached home at 8.30pm…it took me 1.5hours to reach home…I could have gone to Ipoh for dinner instead…sheesh!! Curse on whatever that caused the jam everywhere last night.

My hubby was home already, waiting for me, he just asked me to heat up the leftovers and cook some rice. I said “What about the Chicken Chop”, “You just got back and you must tired” he sympathized…I agree I am tired but no way am I giving up on my challenge. Any other day, I can let him go without food even if I have to but no today. I’m cooking!!

Before I could do anything else, I had to greet my ecstatic dog that was so excited to see me home. She's like that even if I were to step outside just for a minute, she'll greet me with so much of excitement like there's no tomorrow.

Once she settled, I ran to the toilet and relieved myself....that felt good. I was in so much of pain due to the full bladder...

1st note to self always pee before leaving any place, even if u don't need to pee just visit that god damn toilet.
2nd note to self don't bother taking new routes especially when it's horrifically jammed everywhere or when you have a challenge to complete
3rd note to self GPS is lousy just learn the roads
4th note to self never accept a challenge on a weekday even if you do...just say you'll complete it on a weekend...

The Challenge!

My pet iguana needs more wood shaving, having to work in a mall it never crossed my mind that I could purchase it from the pet store of the mall. Instead, I went to Subang Parade, not that I live nearby it or anything like that. It’s so happened that we were in the neighbourhood and remembered that Subang Parade had, <-- you see that “HAD” Pet’s Wonderland. Well what do you know, not only that they closed their business in One Utama they are also closed in Subang Parade. Oh well, just to make our trip and parking fee worthwhile we decided to dine there.

It has been awhile since we last dined out, we weren’t sure of where to eat. We headed to the mall directory. Hmm….”Let’s eat at Eden.” My hubby suggested, unfortunately they have closed down too…business everywhere seems bad isn’t it.

We finally narrowed it down to Dave’s Deli. Looking at the menu I was contemplating between Chicken Snitzel or the ¼ Roasted. Knowing that the Snitzel will take awhile, I settled for ¼ Roasted. Just my luck, they don’t have any at that moment and I will have to wait so I decided to take what my hubby was having. Chicken Chop!

Huge mistake, not only that presentation looked like garbage it tasted like one too. The tomato sauce that supposed to be tasty was actually a cheap ass high starchy severely diluted salted sauce just thrown over the chicken. The chicken was over bartered and over fried as the meat was rather tough. The raw tomato was simply chopped and thrown over the chicken like rubbish and not forgetting the low-grade peas. The 15 pieces of fries probably was fried together with the chicken as it was also over fried.

How difficult is it to fry fries? Or the Chicken? Or to make that bloody sauce? Or to create a more appetizing meal? The meal wasn’t cheap for that cheap looking meal. They charged us RM14.50 before tax and they served us crap. No wonder Restaurants are closing down due to their cheap ass meals. Even a roadside stall serves better meals, just blanco the fact that they may be located next to the biggest drain in KL.

Watching me complaining over my meal, my hubby challenged me to prepare the same tomato based Chicken Chop at home. When it comes to cooking, I don’t say NO! I took the challenge and I can bet you, my Chicken Chop will taste better than Dave’s Deli anytime!!

Meals need to be prepared with love, you have to love what you are doing and automatically the results will be superb! I can see why the Chicken Chop was like garbage coz the person preparing it may have felt she/he is working in a crappy place. There’s something restaurant owners should adhere, they should make sure their waitresses, chefs, cashiers, bus boys and every single employee of theirs is well trained to enjoy their work. When they are made to feel like a maid that’s when the performance drops and in restaurants business you can’t afford to have bad performance coz it shows in the food they prepare and serve thus leading to closing down of business.

Well, I’m all geared up for tonight’s big meal and I have 8 hours to burn at work!! I’m so excited!!

I've been missing...

Ah...to the very little fans that I have. You have notice me gone missing, I've been busy. My company's having an Annual Dinner this Saturday, and I'm busy making a dinner dress for myself.

The theme is Viva Las Vegas, it's all about gambling and cabaret dancers...nah I'm just exaggerating.

My dress is all sequined black with gold lining. I even bought myself feathers, can't wait to be the Goddess of Gamblers this Sat. One of the event is also the best dressed and the price was RM200 last year not really sure about this year though. I'm not really aiming for that but if I do get it, it'll definitely help me with the amount that I spent on the dress.

Wondering why I'm making my own dress instead of purchasing it. Well I get to choose my own material, colour combination, fits perfectly and design it the way I want it.

How much did you think I spent?

Sequined Material RM 49 per meter (I used 1 1/2 meter) RM73.50
Gold Satin Material RM 9 per meter (I used 2 meters) RM18.00
Gold Lining Material RM3.80 per meter (I used 2 meters) RM7.60
Hidden Zipper RM2.00
Black Thread RM0.40
Gold Thread RM0.40
Sewing Bone RM2.00
Feathers RM20.00

Total I spent on the dress is about RM123.90 well of course I do not know how much I spent on electricity and time making the dress. I'm gonna take a walk in the mall and look for a dress with similar material to check the price. Last I checked was about RM350 but that was different material it wasn't sequined.

The feeling of wearing a dress made by myself is priceless.

The dress isn't completed yet though I still have about 40% to complete and the dinner is this Saturday.

Arrgghhhh!!

Hallow ah??

I just received a phone call from a bank sales assistant. Don’t we all receive these phone calls, asking us to either apply for their personal loans, credit cards, housing loans and balance transfers.

This is just another ordinary phone call but what’s weird is the questions she asked me were astonishing.

She spoke in a very strong Chinese slang and to which I followed suit.

Banker : Hallow!
Me : Hallow!
Bank : Is this Miss Bavani ah?
Me : Hah! It’s me la, why?
Bank : Me ah, calling from this Al-Raji Bank ah. You convenient now ah?
Me : Me ah? Why?
Bank : My bank want you to join our program?
Me : What program? Free ah? No free I no join.
Bank : *she chuckled* No ah, my bank want you to join our balance transfer pro…
Me : *I cut in* I don’t want la
Bank : Why ah?
Me : I don’t want la.
Bank : I have to know the reason le.
Me : I don’t have any balance how to do transfer?
Bank : Everyone also owe money to credit card one, how you don’t have?
Me : I’m not everyone le, I don’t even have credit card le.
Bank : Oh! So, you….
Me : *I cut in* I don’t want.
Bank : Good to have credit card ma.
Me : So, I can owe bank money and pay till I die is it?
Bank : Ya, I mean not like that but good ma credit card.
Me : I don’t want le, then I become poor.
Bank : No la.
Me : No ah? Ok lor you say no already, then bye la.

I hung up…hehehehe…I may have sounded mean, how do you handle these kinda calls?

Leftovers....

Yep, I served left-overs yesterday. I made too much chicken soup the day before and I tweaked it a bit before serving the same meal yesterday. It wasn't really accepted by my husband, yet he can't complain what else is there to eat? Hehehe..

My new year’s resolution was to go jogging, do yoga to keep fit and stay healthy. I’ve been doing that in my dreams so far. I make plans in my head, that I should get up at 6am everyday and do some exercise. Yeah! They remain in my plan and never had the chance to execute them.

All I can think of is, what should I cook? Maybe, I should have become a chef or something but of cause if I ever become a chef I’ll be dreaming of doing something else. No one is ever satisfied with what he or she has and what he or she can do. Everyone is always expecting more than what we already have.

That isn’t gonna stop me from dreaming to have what I don’t have. Hmmm…I’m confusing myself.

Anyways, something weird just happened. A colleague of mine all of sudden just popped a question saying that she has bought a fish and I didn’t catch the name of the fish, well I didn’t think that was important when I heard what I heard. Well, I’m about to share it with you but I’m so disgusted to do so.

Here it goes, one of the other colleague suggesting to cook it in a sambal, another suggested to steam the fish and one had to suggest to cook it with petai. Oh nothing wrong cooking petai sambal fish. It’s one of the healthiest veggies ever found. The gross part is, this colleague simply loves petai. Oh! There’s more!!

“I love petai, what I love most is the smell of petai the next morning. I love the smell of my pee in the morning. I’ll just bend down and take a deep breath as I pee. Oh! The smell of petai is just simply wonderful!!” said the colleague.

You weren’t here and when she actually acted out how she smells her pee. That vivid act is still in my head and I can’t get rid of it. Will I eat petai ever again? I don’t even like petai to start with and with what just happened I would never like petai ever.

Hmmm…this still doesn’t solve the problem of what should I cook tonight. I’ll think of something.

Wrong choice of recipe…

Not that the dish didn’t come out right and it wasn’t a disaster, the recipe suggested to stir fry the noodles but I improvised it to soup noodles. Maybe it’s just me, there was something missing in it and it was simply flat.

Here’s the original recipe and I used most of the ingredients as it is, as this time I didn't forget to take the recipe with me...hehe....

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. Medium Egg Noodles, uncooked
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into julienne strips (1 1/2 × 1/4-inch)
• 2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 bunch scallions, chopped (fresh from my garden)
• 1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 cup chopped celery (replaced it with kangkung)
• 1 4-oz. can sliced water chestnuts (couldn’t find any so didn’t replace it with anything)
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. white pepper
• 1 tsp. dried cilantro (used fresh ones from my garden instead)
• 2 tbsps. toasted almonds (optional) since it was optional I didn’t use it.
  

Directions:

1. Prepare egg noodles according to package directions; drain.
2. In a large skillet or wok, sauté chicken, carrots, scallions and red bell pepper in oil until chicken is opaque and white, about 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Add soy sauce, celery, water chestnuts, garlic powder, white pepper and cilantro. Mix all ingredients together, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in cooked egg noodles. Sprinkle with toasted almonds, if desired.

The only difference is I added chicken stock to make it soupy, the dish turned out fine but there was something missing. This isn’t gonna be a dish that I would try it again. Perhaps it wasn’t spicy enough, it was rather flat. My husband, who loves non-spicy dish, didn’t quite like it either. I only scored 4/10 for this dish. Here’s a low quality photo of the finished product.

I should get a better camera!!

How bizarre are your friends?

Something bizarre happened to me yesterday while leaving office, I was happily leaving on time yesterday…leaving on time is already bizarre enough but something more bizarre happened. As I was waiting at the lift lobby 2 of my other colleagues walked towards me. One asked if I drove today, looking at the fact that I’m holding my car keys. I responded, “Yes, I am” enthusiastically. Then another colleague of mine asked “So, your husband is not picking you up today?” I was stunned with that question, perhaps she didn’t hear my conversation with the other colleague, though she was standing right next to her. Oh well I have to say something “No, I drove today” I replied with puzzled look on my face. Then she said “I thought you normally wait for your husband to pick you up?” “Ya, I drove today” how the hell she expects my husband to pick me up and I drive home at the same time? How bizarre is that? She still wasn’t satisfied as I could notice a puzzled look in her face, still wondering how could I be driving home when my husband is gonna pick me up. Well, I have to leave it to her to figure it out. I’m special, I could drive and have my husband pick me up at the same time.

Anyways, I have finally decided to cook Stir Fry Chicken and Noodles, and this time I must remember to take the recipe with me. I can’t let my car do all the cooking now, can I? I have to purchase some veggies to go with it, so I have to head to the supermarket before leaving home. That’s the good part of working in Shopping Complex, you have everything you need….hehe…

Hmm…I wonder what vegetables would go with this noodle dish, the recipe suggested Celery but I hate Celery. Never mind I’ll think of something, I always do.
I never really had any habit of following the recipe as it is, I always improvise and so, it’s personalized but the problem is I don’t document it and therefore, when I cook the same dish again it tastes different and different and different each time.

Sesame Chicken the end result :P

I happily printed out the recipe before leaving office and took one last glance at it, just incase if I have all the ingredients at home otherwise, I will have to stop by the supermarket to purchase the missing ingredients.

I got home played with my dog and iguana, I put out the chicken to thaw. I prepared the other ingredients, as I was going to reach my handbag for the recipe then I remembered...dang! dang! dang! I neatly folded the recipe and put it in my notebook which I left it in the car...arrrrggghhhhh...

With the little memory I had glancing through the recipe I somehow managed to cook the dish...

Here's the original recipe and those in red are the ingredients I used. Let's see what I missed.

Sesame Chicken with Chinese Cabbage and Broccoli (courtesy of http://www.chinesefood-recipes.com)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c. soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. minced fresh ginger root
• 1 tbsp. sugar (I don't use sugar in my dishes unless I'm craving for diabetes)
• 1/4 c. toasted sesame seeds
• 2 whole chicken breasts, skinned, boned, and cut in bite-size pieces
• 3 tbsp. peanut oil
• 1 c. green onions, cut in 1 inch lengths
• 3 c. sliced fresh broccoli flowerettes
• 3 c. Chinese cabbage (I didn't have any in the fridge)
• 2 tsp. cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tbsp. water

Well not bad I didn't miss much did I??

Anyways, let's see if the method I used is similar then what's suggested in the recipe.

Directions:

1. Trim Chinese cabbage of all but 1 inch of green tops and slice diagonally; slices diagonally in 1/2 inch pieces
2. In medium bowl, stir together soy sauce, dry sherry, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, sugar, and sesame seeds. Add chicken and marinate at least 1 hour.
3. In a wok or skillet, heat peanut oil over medium heat for 2 minutes.
4. Add onions, broccoli, and cabbage. Stir fry 1 minute. Transfer to dish; set aside.
5. Add chicken mixture to wok or skillet (add more oil if needed). Stir fry until pinkness is gone, about 3 minutes.
6. Remove to dish with slotted spoon. Dissolve cornstarch in water. Add to liquid in wok. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Return chicken and vegetables to sauce. Cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute.

Well, I was busy checking the ingredients I didn't bother reading how the dish is suggested to be made instead this is how I cooked my dish.

I marinated the chicken with rice wine, soy sauce, sesame seed and sesame oil. Then I heated up the oil and added the chilli, onion and garlic. I then added the chicken and let it simmer for awhile before adding the broccoli....here's a blurred low quality pic taken from my handphone.

Not bad eh? Eventhough I didn't prepare it they way it should my husband still gave me 7/10 coz there wasn't enough sauce for him to eat with...this is a prefect dish if you do not have time to cook another vege dish to go with it, well the chicken comes with broccoli...hehehe. Oh!! I added a dash of pepper as it was a little flat without some spice...=))

Try it today!! Now what shall I cook tomorrow night??

Food!! Food!! Food!!

I love to cook...simply love to cook...internet is my best friend, I get most of my recipes from the net and I improvise it before cooking...well I don't really have all the ingredients I need so, what the hell...just improvise it.

What to cook tonight is my motto day in and day out...I just found this cool recipe for sesame chicken over the net and guess what!! I'm gonna cook it tonight. It all depends if my hubby loves it...well even if he doesn't it's still gonna go on the blog...

Yeah! I should have started this blog long time ago and it would have been my online scrapbook on all the recipes that I have cooked throughout the many years that I have started cooking...well, it's never too late now is it??Can't wait to go home and cook my new dish tonight....this week is chinese style cooking week...so I'm starting it off with Sesame Chicken (as mentioned earlier)...I hope it's yummy...*keepingfingerscrossed*