Chew Stew

An attempt to make beef stew failed miserably. The meat couldn't soften in time and my guests, The Husband and The Housemate, were hungry. Yes, I know stews take hours to make because you need to simmer it and stuff. But the recipe I referenced with said to simmer for 50 mins only. Oh well, nonetheless, it was served with what little dignity it had. I wish I had the time to make the perfect stew. I mean, the recipe is perfect already. Its got beer and red wine in it! It shall not be robbed off its glory. I will be Super Chef!

On a Whim

Decided to cook all of a sudden on Thursday. Had no plans because it was family day for my sister and I haven't cooked in awhile. On the menu was Skillet Sutchi with Fettucine Pomodoro. English: Pan fried fish fillet with pasta in tomato sauce. I actually wanted to try making Spaghetti Aglio Olio but I had no garlic at home. I mean, which household doesn't have garlic?! Such a taboo for domestic goddesses! I had brought them to my parents' place and forgot to take them back.
So anyway, I had to do some crisis management and the contingency was the aforementioned dish. Since it was on a whim, I used whatever I had at home. Bottled herbs (all purpose, thyme) and spices (black pepper, paprika) to marinate the fish (which was frozen), and lazy left over bottled pasta sauce for the fettucine (spinach, by the way). I must say it was pretty decent. The Housemate looked on with envy, not that I didn't offer.

I am looking forward to experimenting more with frozen sutchi fillet. Another taboo perhaps? But it is really quite convenient. Definitely recommend to buy some for random I-feel-like-cooking-today moments.

Brought to you today by the letter A

We went to see the Andy Warhol show on Sunday after hokkien mee. The queue was scary when we got there and contemplated for a split second whether to go. I'm glad we did because it was great and I like going for exhibitions. But I am not going to write about it or about Andy Warhol because I'm not going to pretend to like him or dislike him, or pretend to be very knowledgeable about him. He is Andy Warhol. And A is for Andy.

Please Come Daily

I haven't written in a while... thats because I haven't cooked in a while. Not even 123 Sandwiches. But I have been eating though. Eating is good. Eating is fun.

For lunch on Sunday, The Husband and I tucked into Hokkien Mee from our favourite store, Come Daily (天天来) at Toa Payoh. It is probably the best hokkien mee ever. We used to eat it relatively often when we were still dating. His work place was in the area and I would buy dinner up. It feels really good to eat it again after so long. Sinful pleasure, I say.



Unlike a lot of places where you can pick up clumps of egg, the egg in this hokkien mee is evenly spread, so that its in every spoonful. The noodles is just moist enough with generous servings of fresh prawns and squid. I like that the thick bee hoon is used; absolutely dislike it when some stores use the skinny ones. And the chilli.. oh the chilli! Mmm mm! One thing to watch out for is the sneaky lard pieces that were coated with egg. If you're not careful, you might end up eating up those very unhealthy clumps.

123 Sandwich

Lunch today was a, what I call, 123 Sandwich. Reason being that its super easy to eat and even easier to make. I discovered this recipe one afternoon when I thought I had better finish up the spinach and basil sitting in the fridge. Looking into the cupboard for inspiration, I decided to use that tin of tuna that I conveniently forgot about. I am generally not a fan of tuna fish but I surprised myself with this totally experimental sandwich. The tuna I used today was soaked in mineral water, much cleaner tasting than when I discovered this recipe with tuna soaked in olive oil. I highly recommend the olive oil version because it was really really good but I think the basil was the winning touch. Love love LOVE basil. :D For that extra crunch, add sliced cucumbers!

Topped with a sprinkle of oregano or multi-purpose herbs and a generous dash of black pepper. Mmm mm!

I gave some fish to Sugar because I know she would love it. But I made sure I rinsed off the salt first!

家常便饭

I can't say this enough. I LOVE cooking. Had fun making a simple dinner last week. My first attempt at "tze char"-ish dishes conprising of Black Pepper Beef, Kang Kong with fermented beancurd and Ma Po Tofu, served with brown rice. For the greater part of my life, we only used white rice but in the past 6 months or so, my mother slowly replaced it with brown rice. I really like it; its more exciting than white rice. The mild nutty flavour and "oaty" texture is interesting. Besides, its really good for you because its got loads of fibre and vitamins that aren't stripped off. Apparently its got similar amount of carbohydrates as white rice, but the high fibre content slows down the carbo absorption so your blood sugar level is controlled. So yes, I only have brown rice and wholemeal bread at home. Of course, I also have chocolates and chips and jelly shots.



I used beef cubes (which I sliced) and it came out pretty tough. I guess it would've been better for stews than stir fry. The ones that were meant for stir fry had streaks of fat in it and I refused to get it. Next time I will use tenderloin instead. I was missing the green peppers for colour so tried to make do with some big red chilli instead. Usually in a Ma Po Tofu dish, minced pork is used but I substituted with chicken instead because The Husband and I had been eating quite a bit of pork lately. The dish came out rather wet because of the tofu and also because I didn't have corn flour to thicken up the juices, but overall, I guess it was okay. Tasted much like the Zha Jiang I made previously though.

The kang kong was the most satisfactory. The flavours were as I expected and the gravy that was left tasted really good with the rice. It was also the easiest to cook since vegetables generally cook quite quickly. And it seemed the least pretentious.

In the Hood

After posting the entry about Sugar's new hiding place, I very randomly googled "cooker hoods" and found some that were to die for! Ok.. most people "die for" things like bags/shoes/jewellery/iphone. I guess I am quite the "Domestic Goddess" my friend says I am. :P But seriously, wouldn't you want this in your kitchen too?


OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH... Gimme gimme gimme! And it comes with a remote control! The Husband would definitely say its form over function because it will definitely be a b*tch to clean. But its so nice!!!! And they make great conversation pieces.

Here's more funky cooker hoods to wish for.








All images taken from www.appliancist.com