Dinners (22-24 Feb)

Dinner on Monday night, 22 Feb:

Chicken Porridge with Dried Scallops and Clams

Dinner on Tuesday night, 23 Feb:

Mushroom omelette






Steamed French Beans with Shiitake Mushrooms




Steamed Song Fish (aka Carp)




Dinner on Wednesday night, 24 Feb:

Chicken Mushroom Rice with Bakwa

I had to think of a way to get rid of the Bakwa Mdm Yik gave us and decided to add them to the rice. It was very nice and the old cat loves it!

Lunch and dinner on 21 Feb

One pot dish of Chicken with Mushrooms and Dried Oysters for Sunday lunch (21 Feb).



I have cooked this before last month, but this time, I used homemade chicken stock as the base instead of water. It tastes nicer!


Cooking on Sunday night (21 Feb):

Steamed Spinach with Century Egg



Kitty saw this on the century egg and asked me to take a pic:



Steamed Beef:



Steamed Shark Steak:



This time I remembered to buy both tomatoes and mushrooms, haha. Anyway, the shark tastes different from other fishes. The meat is a bit spongy. It looks very muscular huh? I told Kitty must be because the shark was busy killing other fishes for food, thats why it became so muscular. This dish is nice, but I personally prefer the silver pomfret and toman fish. By the way, does anyone know what is the difference between the Silver Pomfret and Chinese Pomfret?? They look the same to me.

3 dishes for dinner on Sunday:

Dinner on Thursday night, 18 Feb

My dinner. Kitty's supper. ABC Soup with Spare Ribs



Bought the spare ribs from the wet market yesterday. I think I can tell the difference in taste between Indonesian pork and Australian pork (from NTUC) liao. Indonesian pork has a nice sweet taste by its own. Hard to explain. Try making soup or any other pork dishes with Indonesian pork and the Aussie pork from NTUC and you will know the diff.

Made this steamed egg dish to add to our lunch boxes tmr. This time, I added century egg and salted egg to the beaten egg mixture. IT IS YUMMY!!!!

Dinner on Wed night, 17 Feb

Today is my last day of freedom from the CNY holidays. Kitty had to work, so I had the day to myself. I decided to try making Mdm Yik's Stewed Pork Belly with Quail Eggs dish. First, I had to make a trip to the wet market at Jurong West. Got to get Indonesian pork you know? Ok, I finally understand that the pork sold at wet markets are from Indonesia. They are of better quality than the Australian ones sold at NTUC.

So pai seh. As it is my first time buying pork (especially pork belly which I have never bought before)at the wet market, I called Mdm Yik and asked her how to tell the pork seller what I want, lol. I even noted down her speech!

Here goes:

Me: Uncle! Give me 3 slices of pork belly. Don't want too much fats; I will be using it for stewing. Thickness about "like that" (indicate with thumb and index finger). Help me to cut into small pieces.

Haha, so I got my pork belly and other ingredients. Went to JP NTUC after that to buy some other ingredients like prawns (don't feel like stepping into the wet section at the market). Saw the Toman fillet selling very cheap and they look fresh, so I bought one to try. What a coincidence. As I was walking to the car park, I noticed Mdm Yik's car parked just a few lots away! She had a movie appt with her pals. This reminds me of 2 weeks ago when I was at Pioneer Mall and found my dad's (The EL) car parked next to mine as well, lol. What a small world.

Steamed Broccoli with Prawns:



Stewed Pork Belly with Quail Eggs:

I bought more pork and quail eggs than what was stated in Mdm Yik's recipe. Cos of that I added more water and the gravy was not as saturated as it should be. Nevertheless, Kitty said it was yummy. I personally think its nice too, but better with more dark soy sauce (the Ipoh one I mentioned in my previous post) and lesser water. I brought some over to the Low Clan at night to let them try. Mdm Yik said it was very nice and fragrant, but it would be better if I had added lesser water, 1 more Tbsp of dark soy sauce and let it simmer longer. Haha, ok, I will do that the next time and let them try again!

Steamed Toman Fillet with Mushrooms:

I forgot to buy tomatoes, so you can only see mushrooms here, haha. Think the Toman fillet is nicer than the snapper... Kitty and I like this a lot. The meat is very "shuang kou"!

3 Dishes for dinner:

Updates since 1 Feb

Been pretty busy last week with the booking of our flights to the US and confirming our hotel choices. Liew I realise that airfares can really go up and down very suddenly. Just 2 weeks ago, the airfare from SIN to LA on Cathay Pacific cost $5691 and it suddenly dropped to $1334. We thought we would wait a day or two but who knows it rose again to $5691! Then last week, I was just randomly checking out airfares and found that it dropped again to $1334! I immediately booked. Better not wait manz! After that, we had to book 3 domestic flights. The airfare on United Airlines for the flight from LV to SFO increased as I wanted to book! I refreshed the page and it displayed the higher fare! I checked again the next day and interestingly, it went back to the cheaper fare! Faster booked that too.

Good hotels in the US are not cheap. Plus, the tax is so high! Whatever savings we made in airfares (cos I budgeted much higher), half went into extra hotel cost. Why? Cos when I was doing the budgeting in my spreadsheet, I did not take into account the hotel tax and tourist tax and possible resort fee, lol. We ended up exceeding the budget for all 3 hotels after taking into account the taxes. Read a lot of reviews on Tripadvisor, but then I don't place 100% trust in the reviews cos of our bad hotel experience in London. We thought since we are going there to "MIA" (or "BMT", haha), better stay in better hotels lest the hotel spoils our mood, lol. I got quite peeved and irritated with the London hotel. Thankfully we were only in London for 2 nights, so it was still ok. Plus, we were not there to "MIL", so its OK lah. To play safe, we booked 4 star hotels. Hilton for our stay in LA, The Mirage Hotel for LV (cos it is located in the middle of The Strip, no need to walk until legs break) and Club Donatello for SFO. We got a very good deal for the hotel in SFO. Had been searching online for 2 days but couldn't find any hotels with reasonable prices. In fact, the hotels that I have shortlisted a few months back all increased their prices by a few hundred dollars!!!! Daylight robbery!!! Thankfully, I chanced upon some very good last minute deals at Booking.com and found Club Donatello's King Suite going for only US$637 (including taxes) for 4 nights!!!

Yay, all bookings confirmed, so happy! Now gotta start hunting for a good camera tripod cos the old cat damaged our new Nikon tripod in Pisa (Italy)!

Dinner on Sat night (6 Jan)

Steamed Dou miao



Stir-fried Chicken with Salted Fish and Tofu

Mdm Yik gave me this recipe. She was kind enough to give me enough salted fish for this dish. I am surprised at how much it helped to enhance the taste and flavour of the dish! This is delicious! Mdm Yik was saying she bought salted fish cos she thought it is cheap, but ended up it was NOT cheap, lol. The auntie at the market said salted fish is expensive, haha. Good salted fish, I mean.

Steamed Silver Pomfret

After my previous attempt at steaming a black pomfret, I told myself I will never buy one again unless I use it for deep frying, which I hardly do so. On Sat, I bought the usual silver pomfret and manz its so delicious. I mean, black and silver pomfrets, they are both pomfrets, so why such a big difference in taste and texture??? The silver pomfret seems fresher and sweeter, the meat more tender. Its so nice manz! I used to steam this using the wok before I bought my steamer, which is more tedious cos my WMF wok is freaking heavy. Now I use the steamer. Don't know why, but somehow the fish tastes better. And No, its not psychological. Even the old cat said it was very, very nice! This is the Teochew style (cos I was lazy to prepare the sauce separately) without the chai po (I hate that) and tomatoes (I forgot to buy). Decided to make the fish look nicer by arranging the ginger like a star, haha.

Complete meal




Dinner on Sunday night (7 Jan)

Chicken Stew (one-pot dish)

I used the slow cooker to make this. This recipe includes 1 Tsp of Worcestershire sauce. I think this Worcestershire sauce really makes a difference to the dish. Don't know how to explain, you can just taste the difference. I put in chicken, potatoes, carrots and shitake mushrooms. Yummilicious! The old cat couldn't stop eating, haha! I shall cook this more often.

I cooked extra portions so that we can have it for lunch the next day at the office.

The one on the left is mine. See the difference in size?? He has 3 big scoops of brown rice while I had only one small scoop. For the chicken stew, he has 4-5 times more too, with a lot more chicken and potatoes, wahahhahahahhaa!

I realise that it is not easy to cook perfect brown rice cos it is hard to gauge the water level. For white rice, I usually put 1 cup of water to 1 cup of rice, but for brown rice it is different. First time, I put 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice. It was a lil drier than we liked but still nice. 2nd time, I put 4 cups of water to 2 cups of rice and it turned out to be slightly sticky and soggy. 3rd time (yesterday), I put 4.5 cups of water to 3 cups of rice and it turned out good! See? I think the "pattern" and trick is to add approximately 1.5 cups more water. E.g. 3-3.5 cups of water for 2 cups of rice.

Updates since 28 Jan

I love Mdm Yik's cooking! No matter how simple a meal, she can always make it so nice, haha. We went over to the Low Clan's for dinner last Thursday (28 Jan) and Mdm Yik cooked one of her best dishes - Stewed Pork Belly with Quail Eggs. Manz, it was so yummilicious that I requested to tabao some back for my next day's lunch! Anyway, she gave me the recipe to making this dish, and I can't wait to try it out after CNY!!

She always uses these 2 sauces whenever it comes to stewing meat:

1) Famous Ipoh Light Soy Sauce

Apparently, this famous soy sauce from Ipoh can only be found at the wet market (Jurong West), and it is selling for $7.50 per bottle! I tasted a bit on its own, and indeed the taste is very fragrant and nice! It is not too salty, and has a nice, sweet taste to it. I really like my new Kikkoman soy sauce, but this tastes even better! Mdm Yik was kind enough to give me her remaining bottle for me to try cooking this dish, haha.

2) Dark Soy Sauce from Malaysia

According to Mdm Yik, this dark soy sauce can only be found at GIANT supermarket. She likes it cos it is neither too salty nor bitter. I tasted a bit as well, and yes, it was good!! I like it! I didn't like my bottle of Tai Hua dark soy sauce cos it was too bitter. Thankfully it expired, so I bought a different dark soy sauce last Wednesday at GIANT. I was lucky I did not throw away my receipt, so I went back to GIANT on Friday after work to do an exchange for this sauce instead.

Dinner on Saturday (30 Jan)

Stewed Chicken with Dried Oysters and Mushrooms

Haha, this is the advantage of the slow cooker. I put all the ingredients into the pot before noon and it was ready for consumption by the time we got home! So convenient. I love this dish. Very nice. There was a big pot leftover, so we had it for our Sunday lunch as well.

Cooking on Sunday (31 Jan)

Foil-wrapped Herbal Chicken

Before:



Didn't know the 2 big packs of chicken can fit into 1 tier, haha.



After:



I quite like this dish. Didn't add "pao shen" as stated in the recipe but it tasted good anyway, lol.


Stir-fried French beans with egg

Haha, as mentioned previously, I have a few eggs to clear before they expire, and I thought, why not add them to french beans?? Its so easy to make this dish. Just stir fry the french beans and add beaten eggs to it. I added ikan bilis powder to it. Delicious! I think I shall cook this more often. At least its a change from the usual broccoli or leafy veggies, haha.

Just 2 dishes for Sunday dinner:



Cooking on Tuesday (2 Feb)

Steamed Red Spinach with Fishballs




Steamed Potatoes with Chicken




Steamed White Snapper




Steamed Brown Rice

The brown rice at Atrium (IBP) is really nice, so I have been trying to find something similar now that we have finished our white rice. Haha, having cooked only once a month or once in 2 months last year, we took more than 1 year to finish our rice. This year, we finished a new bag of white rice within 2 months! 80% was consumed by Kitty, cos I have been trying to transform him into a Persian cat, haha. Anyway, we bought this "Heavenly Brown Rice" from Cold Storage. Bought a 1kg packet to try out and its not bad! I like the nutty, chewy texture of the rice, haha! Its healthy too!

Our dinner on Tuesday:

I love my steamer and slow cooker

I think a steamer and slow cooker makes a really good combi to having healthy and tasty home cooked meals. Ever since I got my steamer, I have been cooking on a more regular basis, from once a month or once in 2 months to 2-3 times a week. But it can get kinda boring sometimes as I often run out of ideas of what to steam for dinner. Then comes along the slow cooker. I can make soups and stews with it! Its so convenient! I always thought that slow cookers are a waste of money but now I think otherwise. They make great one-pot meals! I usually put the ingredients into the slow cooker at night, leaving them to cook overnight. The food will be ready the next day, so all I have to do when I get home from work is to let it heat up again. The inner pot can be placed directly over the stove for heating up too, thus saving more time. With the wonderful combi of the steamer and slow cooker, I now cook about 4 times a week including weekends. I usually cook 4 servings, 2 for dinner and 2 for our next day lunch boxes. Although there are still things to wash, at least it is not as tiring as re-washing my heavy WMF wok whenever I finish cooking each dish. So now, we can easily have soup and 2-3 dishes for each meal, or simply just a one-pot meal. Its so complete! Kitty says these are 2 of the best investments he has ever made so far, haha!

Lunch on Sunday, 24 Jan

Beef Stew

Cooked this using the slow cooker. Its so nice! I think it would be even better if I had used less beef broth and made the gravy thicker. Added potatoes, carrots, radish and big onions. A great one-pot meal!

Dinner on Monday, 25 Jan

Black Chicken Soup

Cooked this using the slow cooker too, so convenient, haha! As I plan my menu once a week with some dishes like this requiring chinese herbs, Kitty has to go get them for me at Rochor. I think he has by now become a familiar face to the shop there!

Steamed Kai Lan

Used oyster sauce for the gravy and added a few drops of sesame oil. I am surprised at the boost of flavour to the oyster sauce!

Steamed Egg with smashed Tofu

We have been eating a lot of steamed eggs cos I have plenty of eggs in my fridge expiring soon. We had wanted to make Deviled Eggs for the family cottage meeting on Sat night and had stocked up our fridge with eggs. Who knows, Kitty had to go back to his office to oversee some filming works and we couldn't make it in the end. Now, we are stuck with plenty of eggs. I am still left with 5 more eggs to clear after this! Anyway, this time, I smashed the egg tofu to see how it will look. Ok, not nice. I still prefer the full yellow-smooth look, haha. Tastes the same though.

Haha, I cooked too much beef stew on Sunday and thus we had a small pot leftover for Monday's dinner despite already having brought some to work for lunch, lol.

Dinner on Tuesday, 26 Jan

Steamed cabbage with fishcake

Haha, somehow the old cat thought I stir-fried this dish. But no lah, I steamed both the cabbage and fishcake, lol. Steamed veggies are just so crisp and tasty!

Steamed Pork Ribs

I realized I have a bottle of Mirin in my cabinet and I am determined to use as much as I can in my cooking. Cannot let it go wasted like many of my other seasonings and sauces. By the way, this is the expensive spare ribs I bought at the wet market (mentioned in prev post), the very one that Kitty dropped in his haste! Anyway, this dish is DELICIOUS!!!! I got the recipe from some online blog and after reading its very positive reviews, I decided to try making it on my own. Its so simple to make yet tastes sooooooooooooo yummy! For those who are interested, just buy some pork ribs (or pork chop if you don't want the bone) and marinate it with the following: 2 Tbsp Oyster sauce, 1 Tbsp Sesame oil, 1 Tbsp Sugar (I used Mirin), 2 Tbsp Hua Diao Jiu, 1 Tsp Corn flour and some Pepper. Optional: 1 Tsp White Vinegar. Marinate the pork for 1-2 hours and steam it for 20mins. Its really delicious!!!

That's our dinner. It includes a bowl of black chicken soup from Monday, lol.

Dinner on Wed, 27 Jan

ABC Soup with Chicken

This is not my first time cooking ABC soup but its my first time using the slow cooker to make this soup. I usually add spare ribs in the soup but this time I used chicken. Surprisingly, it tasted really yummy!! I shall opt for chicken next time when I make this soup, haha!