My sweet hamsters

My 2 female hamsters are super sweet to one another (^_^) such a joy to observe them interacting with one another and enjoying each other's company...相亲相爱...is there room for 1 more? - me?

Pics from my birthday week!

My last birthday treat was lunch at Whitebait & Kale at Camden - where Evon and i had whitebait for appetizers (super yum!), snapper pie (real real huge) and kurobuta pork loin. We din have any space left for dessert (^.^)


Home cooked one-dish meals - Rice cooked with mushrooms, bamboo shoots and chicken & chicken porridge, simple dishes to clean out the palate

Chicken porridge
Ingredients
- 1 cup of rice (enough for 2 persons)
- 3 pieces of chicken thigh (fats removed)
- Sliced ginger
- Chopped spring onions
- Water
Steps
- Boil rice, water and ginger slices together in a pot
- Add in chicken thigh and simmer on medium/low heat
- Remove cooked chicken thighs and shred them
- Ladle porridge out into a bowl, top with shredded chicken and spring onions

Rice cooked with mushrooms, bamboo shoots and chicken
Ingredients
- 1 cup of rice (enough for 2 persons)
- 3-4 pieces of chicken thigh (fats removed) and cut up into big chunks
- Sliced ginger
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Half a can of bamboo shoots (i used Ma Ling brand), cut into big chunks
- 5 dried black mushrooms, soaked in water, halved with stem removed
Marinade
- Dark soya sauce
- Oyster sauce
- Pepper
- Sugar
- Sesame oil
Steps
- Marinade chicken and soaked mushrooms (i left it to marinade overnight)
- Using the rice cooker, put the uncooked rice, water, bamboo shoot, garlic, ginger, chicken, mushrooms and the marinade all in to cook

New vocabulary

Been picking up on some of my niece's vocab...my favs are "nonsense" and "alrite"!

non·sense
play_w2("N0145800")
(nnsns, -sns)
n.
1. Words or signs having no intelligible meaning: a message that was nonsense until decoded.
2. Subject matter, behavior, or language that is foolish or absurd.
3. Extravagant foolishness or frivolity: a clown's exuberant nonsense.
4. Matter of little or no importance or usefulness: a chatty letter full of gossip and nonsense.
5. Insolent talk or behavior; impudence: wouldn't take any nonsense from the children.
adj.
Genetics Of or relating to a mutation in a structural gene that changes a nucleotide triplet into a stop codon, thus prematurely terminating the polypeptide chain during protein synthesis.

Adj.
1. alright - nonstandard usage
satisfactory - giving satisfaction; "satisfactory living conditions"; "his grades were satisfactory"
Adv.
1. alright - without doubt (used to reinforce an assertion); "it's expensive all right"
all right
2. alright - an expression of agreement normally occurring at the beginning of a sentence
all right, fine, OK, very well
3. alright - in a satisfactory or adequate manner; "she'll do okay on her own"; "held up all right under pressure"; (`alright' is a nonstandard variant of `all right')
O.K., okay, all right
colloquialism - a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech

My last birthday as a twenty-something

My birthday started off with a series of sms-es from some really dear and sweet friends, such a nice way to begin a day! (^.^)v Zipped through tons of stuff at work this morning and made it on time to have lunch with my mum and her old friend for a lunch at Equinox - the semi-buffet was quite a spread with foie gras, oysters, sri lanka crab, sashimi and an array of desserts and ice-creams! Took the rest of the day off and came back home to cook chicken porridge for dinner with my husband =p looking forward to my lunch treat from Evon tomorrow - the last of the birthday celebrations hee hee

My obsessive compulsive hamsters

(^.^) My hamsters have been obsessing with this toilet roll core for a while, really determined to shred and claw it to bits...must feel really shiok to peel the inner linings off bit by bit and adding the shreds to their bedding


Been feeling real stuffed from all the big meals i have been eating lately so i have reduced the portions of my home-cooked dinners these days:-
Steamed Fish Rolls with Lap Cheong and Rice for Tues and Buns stuffed with fried pork slices with ginger and onions last nite

Preparing the fish rolls needed a fair bit of work, but they turned out rather nice so it was worth the effort!

Ingredients
Dory Fish fillet
Chinese black mushrooms
Preserved Sichuan vegetable
Carrot
Spring onions
Ginger - grated
Sauce: Woh Hup Steamed Fish Sauce, Vinegar, Sugar


Cooking Oil
Method
Slice and marinate dory fish fillet with a bit of pepper, salt and rice wine
Slice soaked Chinese mushroom, carrots and spring onions thinly
Roll mushroom, carrots and preserved sichuan vegetable in the dory fish fillet
Grate some ginger over the fish rolls
Steam over boiling water on high heat for approx 6-8 min
Pour the Sauce over the fish rolls when cooked
Place spring onions over the steamed fish rolls
Heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a wok and drizzle over the spring onions when hot (u should hear a sizzling sound)

Let the festivities begin!

The celebrations for my 2nd year wedding anniversary and birthday have begun! (^-^")

First stop was the Singapore Flyer on 10 Oct '08, had a 15% discount coupon for my birthday month...there was also a birthday promo where i got a free slice of cake and a drink at one of the cafes.

My cake count this weekend:-

10 Oct '08, Fri, Singapore Flyer, Robert's Cafe - Choc truffle cake (complimentary)

11 Oct '08, Sat, La Cantina, Changi Village Hotel - Tiramisu and Chocolate cake

12 Oct '08, Sun, Crowne Plaza Terminal 3 - Choc cake with fresh berries (complimentary)

12 Oct '08, Sun, Merchant Court - Pistachio cheese cake (from the buffet @ Ellenborough Market Cafe)

12 Oct '08, Sun, TCC, The Pier - Mei mei's birthday cake (which i managed to skip...)

The Singapore Flyer in the early evening - 7.45pm

2nd stop was the Crowne Plaza Hotel @ Terminal 3 of Changi Airport...such a treat! Simply loved the place. We had to take a swim and even went out to get new swimming gear! The service was great as well.

Room 832 which faces the Changi Control Tower...i can't see the runway from here!

3rd Stop was dinner @ La Cantina in Venezia, my last visit was 2.5 years ago just before my ROM

Their crabmeat linguine is still as good as ever!! We also had the day's special, Duck breast with ravioli and orange sauce...superbly done! Such fine food and nice ambience...swoon

4th Stop - Buffet lunch @ Merchant Court Ellenborough Market Cafe with my family, way too crowded on Sundays and the spread seems different...where's my crayfish??

5th Stop - TCC @ The Pier to celebrate Mei Mei's 2nd birthday...she loves the clothes we bought for her from Fox kids and wants to sleep in them! I must take a pic with this little angel on her actual birthday!

Breakfast foods

I prepare breakfast at home for some mornings when i grow tired of eating store bought breads and cakes =p The easiest is to throw some toppings on plain bread and pop them into the oven. Other breakfast foods include muffins, pancakes, eggs and toast, cinnamon toast, sausages and eggs, stuffed pita bread, tang yuan...

Here's my breakfast for this morning - Tuna cheese melt

I mixed the canned tuna chunks with japanese salad dressing, black pepper, roasted white sesame seeds and put a slice of cheese on top before putting it into the oven.

Braised noodles =)

Bought a pack of Prima Hokkien Noodles on Friday and whipped up a real quick Saturday lunch with it =)
Rather nice and easy to cook


Ingredients (for 2 pax)
2 pieces of Prima Hokkien Noodles (comes in 6 pieces per pack)
Water with a little bit of olive oil for boiling the noodles
Some thinly sliced lean pork, lightly marinated with some pepper, rice wine, light soya sauce and corn flour
Some sliced fish
Some sliced fishcake
Chinese cabbage
Minced garlic
Water
Seasonings: Pepper, Dark thick soy sauce, Oyster sauce, Sugar

Method
1. Bring water to boil and add a tiny bit of olive oil
2. Boil noodles for 5 mins and drain
3. Stir-fry garlic, cabbage and sliced fish cake
4. Add seasonings and water
5. When it comes to a boil, add the sliced fish, lean pork and noodles
6. Turn down the fire, cover the wok and let it braise/simmer for a while till most of the liquid has been soaked up

I forgot to crack an egg in! Well hope i'll remember the next time

Henderson Waves

Decided to be adventurous on Sunday and explore Henderson Waves and the Southern Ridges. We drove up to Mt Faber, parked at carpark C and ventured off towards Henderson Waves and ended at the Hort Park before walking back.
"The Southern Ridges comprise a 9-kilometre chain of green, open spaces spanning the rolling hills of Mount Faber Park, Telok Blangah Hill Park and Kent Ridge Park before ending at West Coast Park."
Got totally soaked in the pouring rain and the soles of my New Balance running shoes started flappin as we ran in the rain <(^.^)> nice and memorable!!

Dinner @ Fuurin

My parents treated us to dinner at Fuurin and we had some of the freshest fish and seafood. The prices weren't too exorbitant ($40 plus per pax) considering what we ate: air flown chilean oysters, foie gras cooked in 2 ways (pan fried and teriyaki), sashimi (mackeral and tako) and other stuff. Definitely better than Sun & Moon!