Tuesday, April 28, 2009

My simplicity lunch


Mmm......... i think some people is going to call me crazy. What so fantastic about this? Well, nothing actually - it's just one of my family favourite dish - sesame oil chicken.
I have decided to write down this recipe in my recipe cabinet. Who knows, my descedant may just want it somedays.

Monday, April 27, 2009

I did it again....

Yes, i did it again. Oops! not in not working over time neither in losing those extra pound.


I did this steam cake again. But it's a such a frustration that i still couldn't get that perfect "spider web" design. I guess i still needs lots of practice to avoid that shaking hand. Oh, no use in avoiding that chicken feets which the older folks claimed may be the cause of shaking hand, hahaha........because i don't eat that dish.

















Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Fusion Recipe

Recently i have been quite lazy and i'm always thinking of cooking a meal which can be prepare in one go. As such, i tested this fusion recipe - combination of glutinuous rice with herbal chicken. So now i can have a complete meal in just i dish. Lolz.


Just incase you may wonder how does the herbs used in this recipe looks like, here's a picture which i labelled it accordingly.


And this is how i wrapped the chicken for steaming.

My completed steamed stuffed glutinuous rice herbal chicken






Monday, April 20, 2009

Recycle that old pair of Jeans

Due to my job scope, every month end i have a task of auditing and ageing the inventory in two warehouses. And this is what i dread most in my job. Every month end, i wish i could turn into an octopus with multiple hands to hold all my stuff for doing this task. Well, for years, i have been making do with a silly sling pouch that doesn't even match my outfit nor serving my purpose of carrying all my stuffs. Every time, i would find myself fishing into the pouch trying to locate what i needed thus scratching my mobile phone which i always carry with me just incase anyone who would want to reach me, (but was unable to do so as the warehouses is not equip with phones at all corners).



Luck just struck me when i was browsing the internet and came across this post on converting an old pair of jeans to an apron by craftsters - betz white. Oh yeah, i found this very innovative. This would just solve my years of struggling with a silly pouch. With the idea in mind, i set myself scouting into my pile of old clothes and i found this pair of old jeans - just what i needed. However, because i don't have a sewing machine at home, whatever sewing that is needed to be done will have to be hand sewn. Therefore, i try to minimized as much sewing as possible.

First, i trimmed off the legs so that the jeans turn into a short.



As i'm trying to have more pockets, i used the back pocket of the jeans so that i don't have to sewn the pockets again. I also wanted to retain the waistband so that i don't have to sewn any tieback for the apron. I also retained the metal button and button hole of the waistband so that i can turn it around to hook behind my back and no extention is needed for tying. I also have to unpick the top of the front loop so that i can cut away the zipper front portion of the jeans. As i'm trying to minimize the sewing needed, i retained the side seam of the jeans which is aready machine seal/hemmed. This part, you have to be very careful when cutting - you have to cut as close to the edge of the seam as possible while retaining the machines hemmed portion so that there will be less frills from the cutting as time goes by.
The reverse side of the apron. Note the uncutted side seam.


This is how the front of the apron looks after cutting off the front portion of the jeans. Notice the protruding crotch area?


Therefore, i have unpicked this portion.


Allow it to overlap and lied flat

Trim further the bottom portion so that it becomes a straight line at the bottom,

Sew back the overlap flatten crotch area again



Next, i folded the bottom portion and securef it with pins before hemming the bottom with blind stitch. This is to prevent frillings from all these cuttings.

My completed apron which i think looks plain.
As such, figuring that i would need additional pocket specially for my mobile phone alone (so that i could keep all the rest of the things away from it to prevent scratching it), i decided to use left over fabric to add the additional mobile phone pocket and some emblishment to the apron to make it more interesting.

I cutted out a double folded piece of fabric enough for the size of my mobile phone. With right side facing right side, i hand sewn with back stitch round the corners, leaving a small gap so i can turn it inside out. Next, using the iron to flatten the edges, I set it onto the centre of the apron and hand sew it with applique stitch. Using the same method, i hand sewn 2 little bow and attached it to the original jeans pocket to act as emblishment.


This is how my bow looks.

My completed apron which is no longer boring.

A closer look at my stock auditing apron.

Viola! An apron that holds all my stuff.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

One dish meal - Pork Ball Congee

When it come to simplicity for meal, what could be more convenient than to prepare a one dish meal. What do i mean by one dish meal? Well, it simply must incoporate the food pyramid - that is it must consist of carbohydrate, protein as well as vitamins.

Today, i prepared a one dish meal - pork ball congee.

The carbohydrate is the rice, protein comes from the pork and vitamins from the carrot.


See, my pork ball congee - convenient and delicious. Recipe in my bon appetite blog.




This is how i shape my pork ball.


One of the ingredient i used is called tao tow chai - literally translate as big head vegetable. It is actuall a kind of dried preserved vegetable. This is quite salty, so when using this ingredient, one must remember to wash thoroughly to clean away the salt used to preserved it. Here's a picture of it:

I guessed, it must have got its name from the way it look - a big head. Wahaha.......




Friday, April 10, 2009

Surprise



I'm really suprised today when i visited FOODbuzz, as my cashew nut slices picture was being feature under daily special today. Elated! ;P

Thanks FOODbuzz team!

Oh yes, btw, for this recipe, please refer to my bon appetite blog.






Thursday, April 9, 2009

Who is more stress?


WHO IS MORE STRESS?
YOU OR THE FISH?