Ee Fu Noodles

Tried my hand at Aaron's fav Ee fu noodles. I saw this recipe in a cookbook in Cold Storage and immediately bought the book. Not bad. It has other recipes from Hong Kong and i've tried out one other noodle dish. Good and simple, like Hong Kong noodles.

There is no meat in the recipe but i decided to add some on my own. A bit weird lar.. no meat. Added some small pieces of pork. Aaron absolutely loved it but i tot it was okay only. My very efficient geunie piggy suggested that maybe i could change the type of mushrooms i used. The recipe said to add chinese mushrooms and button mushroom. Going to try and use straw mushies and shitake next time. Instead of mushroom water, i'm going to try and use chicken stock and chicken meat. I also want to try and retain the original Ee fu noodle taste as it adds flavour to the dish. Well, as we Asians know how to cook out type of food, it's a relatively easy dish that you can play with. Add your own veges or maybe even prawns.

Ee Fu Noodles (Hong Kong Food)
Rating: 3/5

Ingredients:
(serves 2)
-150g of Ee Fu Noodles(can be found in Cold Storage)
-90g of fresh chinese mushrooms
-90g of button mushrooms
-90g of meat(any kind)
-1/2 cup of water or chicken stock
-2 cloves of garlic(chopped)
-1 teaspoon of sugar
-2 teaspoon of oyster sauce
-2 teaspoon of soya sauce
-1 teaspoon of oil
-1 teaspoon of sesame oil
-1/4 teaspoon of white ground pepper

Directions:
-Blanch the noodles in boiling water until it losses it's crispiness. Drain and rinse with cold water
-In a hot wok, put in oil and saute the garlic. Add in the meat and stir fry for about 2 mins. Add in the mushrooms and stir fry for another 2 mins.
-Pour in the noodles and mix thoroughly. Add in the sugar, soya sauce, oyster sauce and stock and mix.Let the noodles simmer in the sauce until it sucks up all the water.
-Add in the sesame oil and pepper, stir and serve hot.

A Bottle Of Thanks

Will you look at the time?! I'm at my last batch of chocolate chip cookies liaoz. It's actaully for a flen at work who helped me a lot during my absence. Really wanted to show my appreciation and thanks and so decided to make her a bottle of cookies to add on to a gift and card. Hope she enjoys them.



I like the little chipmunk. Soooo cute!



Emmm... smells good.. My very last batch of addictive chocolate chip cookies. Taken from a food blog, bakingsheet. It's nice and chewy cos it's got oats in it.

Here's the recipe.

Addictive Chocolate Chip Cookies
From www.bakingsheet.blogspot.com
Rating: 4/5 (you just can't stop!)

2 cups ap flour
½ cup quick cooking oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup white sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F and line a few baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Blend in vanilla extract and egg. Slowly add in the flour mixture until nearly combined. Add in chocolate chips and stir until dough is uniform in color and chip distribution.
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets.
Bake at 350F for 11-13 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
Makes 40 cookies.

To my photographer cum Guinea Piggy

Thanks love, not only for the dinner, but also the wonderful day i had with you yesterday!!

PS: All photos from Giraffe were taken by him.

Happy Burpday to Me

Well, as you can see, i spent my birthday eating. And eating lots of good food!! From homemade to classy restaurant. I daresay this is one of the best birthdays i've ever had. Maybe it's becos i'm on leave.. hehe.. But i've made an entry of all the stuff i ate and some recipes to go along. Really simple to do if you want a quick and healthy meal. Hope you enjoy this entry as much as i enojyed doing it.

Dinner at Giraffe

Was really excited about dinner with Aaron here. Heard of the ambience and the food. As we walked into the restaurant through the bar, it's as though you've walked into another world. Streams of water flowing under your feet, tall safari like toy giraffes in some of the corners and the glass windows blend well with the woody frames.



"99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer...."

Even the menu was nice.Purple leather bound with safari themed paper on the inside. Couldn't decide on the main course so we had our drinks first. Orange juice for the ladies and ice latte for the gentleman.

After much deliberation, we decided to ask the helpful waitress for some recomendations. This was our meal for the evening.

For starters,



Giraffe Italian Salad- Marinated artichoke hearts with sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives & cucumber served on a bed of mixed lettuce with basil pesto vinaigrette & garlic crostini.

What a mouthful to say yeah? But i tell you this Italian salad is really good. Light and exotic, it's got all these flavours that burst in your mouth when you eat it. Loved the sun-dried tomatoes. Sweet.

Main Course



Seville Chicken with Paella & Chorizo- Tender chicken breast marinated in an orange essence served with saffron-infused paella rice & chorizo slices.



I had this main course. It was the first time i tried paella rice. It's Spanish and normally cooked with seafood. However, this was a good take by using chicken and chorizo, a kind of sausage. Loved the flavour of the rice and how the chicken mixed so well with it. A very filling dish.



Rib Eye with Gorgonzola butter- Austtalian grain-fed beef served with butter & crispy fries.



Now this was the best!! Look at that knob of butter slowly melting and mixing with the natural juices from the succulent steak. When you eat it, the whole piece just melts in your mouth. Emmmmmmmmm........ Only one word to describe it. Shiok!

Sweet Dessert

We were already so full with the main course and thought of skipping the desserts. But after a while, we felt better and decided to order the restaurant's signature dessert.



Malva Pudding-Traditional South African dessert infused with orange & Jack Daniels. Served with ice-cream & orange sauce.



I loved it!! Aaron thought it was pretty normal cos it really is just a sponge cake with ice cream on top. But being a cake person, I know how difficult it is to ensure the quality of a melt-in-your-mouth cake. And the adding of the orange sauce just brings out the flavour of the cake even more. Superb!

We're telling everyone how great the place is. It's a little steep though but fantastic for special occasions(like birthdays). I give it 4/5 for ambience and 4/5 for food. Oh, and on top of that, service was top notch!

Lunch With The Sister

My sweet sister took half day off just to be with me... Soo sweeeeet. So, i decided to cook for her. Her fav, olive rice. But first, let me show you the spread for lunch.



Very Thai kinda food. Well, i love Thai food so this menu is great for me.

Firstly, the olive rice.



Got the menu from another food blogger, who got this one from Sylvia Tan from her book "Mad About Food". Good stuff man and easy to make. Here's the recipe.

Olive Rice

• saute some chopped garlic in hot oil before adding 300g of minced pork (recipe works just as well with minced chicken or minced beef, depending on your preference) and 3 tablespoons of the preserved olive vegetables (to reduce the oil in the dish, I try to drain away as much of the oil in which the olive vegetables are preserved in - which by the way, when stirred into the white rice, imparts a slightly light olive green hue to the rice)
• stir-fry the minced meat mixture and add 1 tablespoon of fish sauce and a couple of heavy-handed shakes of white pepper
• you can serve the minced meat mixture over a bowl of white rice but I usually prefer to add my cooked white rice (about 3 to 4 bowls) into the wok with the minced meat mixture and stir the whole thing vigorously until well-mixed
• to serve: toss some roasted peanuts on top, garnish with mint leaves and if you prefer, a couple of lemon wedges

Tom Yum Soup



Look at the beautiful colours! Tasted okay only cos i have really high expectations for Tom Yum Soup. Took the paste from a packet but added stuff like ginger, onion and lemon grass before adding in the water to boil and the paste to taste. You can add any kind of ingredients to the soup. For this, i used prawns, fish slices and a little bit of meat. Oh, not forgetting my fav vege and tomato.

Lemonade



I halved the recipe for just 3. Love the strong sour taste with a tinge of sweetness. Good cooling drink.

Remember the starting proportions - 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of lemon juice.
The secret to perfect lemonade is to start by making sugar syrup, also known as "simple syrup". Dissolving the sugar in hot water effectively disperses the sugar in the lemonade, instead of having the sugar sink to the bottom.
In a small saucepan heat the sugar and water until the sugar is dissolved completely. While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice. Add the juice and the sugar water to a pitcher. Add around 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes.
Serve with ice, sliced lemons.
Serves 6.

Birthday Breakfast

They always say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I agree. So, i made these apple waffles. Really good. Sweet and sour at the same time and most importantly, healthy.



Nice eh, can use any apples, red or green.Don't need to use waffles, it's just as good on toasted bread.

Sauteed Apples (All Recipes)
Submitted by: Jenny

INGREDIENTS:
• 30 g butter
• 2 large tart apples - peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 3 g cornstarch
• 60 ml cold water
• 35 g brown sugar
• 0.6 g ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large skillet or saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; add apples. Cook, stirring constantly, until apples are almost tender, about 6 to 7 minutes.
2. Dissolve cornstarch in water; add to skillet. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and serve warm.

Oh yeah and.. An apple a day, keeps the doctor away!!

My Dream Cake

I finally got my dream cake! An elmo cake. He's been my childhood idol and is still my fav sesame street character. My sweet sister got the cake for me. It's really nice! Royal chocolate from Polar Cakes and Puffs.




See! It even has the Ah Jie inside!! He he.. this is one of the few personalised cakes i've ever had. Angie and I had a tough time trying to cut elmo up so aaron did the 'murdering' for us. To be honest, elmo didn't taste all that good. But he sure looked nice!!



Sooooooooooo cute!! Thanks angie!! Muakzz!!

Homemade Brownie with Ice Cream

I actaully made this brownie about a week ago. Still had some left overs and my guinea piggy was hungry even after 1 big box of fried rice. So i took it out of the fridge, popped it into the oven, and added some ice cream, rasins and chocolate sauce on top. Emmmmmmm.... Shiok.

The brownie texture is really good. Not too thick and sweet. Maybe cos i used dark chocolate baking powder instead. It's nicer and richer in the coco taste.



Oooooooooooo... looks so goooooodd.......

Best Brownies (All Recipes)
Submitted by: Angie
Personal Rating: 4/5

INGREDIENTS:
• 115 g butter
• 200 g white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 5 ml vanilla extract
• 30 g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 60 g all-purpose flour
• 2 g salt
• 1 g baking powder

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.
2. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.

Marble Cake 1

Had an urge to bake on sat so, i did it. Tried my hand at marble cake at 10pm. Horrible lar... think i didn't explore enough recipes to find a really good one. I just took one off All recipes. Didn't work out well.



Looks okay rite?? But on the inside, it's all mushy and gooey.. too heavy.. And i did a stupid thing. I used too little of the original batter for the base and mixed too much coco powder into the batter. I ended up gettting chocolate cake instead. Sian. Going to research on more marble cakes and going to try out a good recipe. When i do so, i'll post it up with the recipe.



Looks good? It's becos of my photographer lar...cum foodie guinea pig, Aaron.

Litlle Red Fruit.

I have lots of friends who don't like this fruit. They say it's difficult to eat and they can't stand the barky taste of the seed that annoyingly attaches itself to the sweet, juicy fruit. But to me, it's shiok.



Look at that succulent white interior! I don't care much abt the barky part. To me, it's a all in the package.

My Fav Cook

I actaully wanted to post up the lunch that i made myself yesterday. I took pictures of it on my camara but could not upload it as i (once again) lost the cable that is used to upload onto the com. So, i decided that i'll dedicate my first post to my fav cook. My mom. She the best! She's teochew so the stuff that she cooks has that teochew touch, that is, simple yet delicious. Today, it's prawns, the Lor Bak and Small Kai Lan. All my fav stuff. She said it was for my birthday. So sweeeeeeeet
rite??



Emmmm.. my fav.. kai lan.. simple and chewy. Just fry with garlic and oyster sauce



Lor Bak. It's better to leave it overnight after cooking so the meat gets all that wonderful black sauce. I love the egg!!!



Prawnnnnss... Steamed with white wine, some salt and pepper.

Food is a Universal Language

Food, like football, is a universal language.

I don't know about you, but i love food. I love eating it and cooking it. Ever since i was young, my fav game was masak masak where i used different types of toys to pretend as food. I remember using some red beads and green beads and making red and green bean soup.

As i grew up, i would take left over food from dinner and make another dish. Something like a after dinner snack. My favourite was mashing up potatoes and add pepper and mayo to it to make it like mashed potatoes. Pretty cool.

So now, i'm into lotsa stuff. Whatever cooking methods. Boiling, steaming, blanching, grilling, frying and my pet cooking method, baking. I just love it!

But you know the best part of cooking? It's the part where you get to share the food with people you love. I love it when ple enjoy the food that i have cooked. My aim for my food?? That it not only fills the stomach, it also fills the heart. So guys, i may not be very very regular with this flog but the entries will be about the stuff that i cook and the recipes. So.... Bon Appetit!