Belgian Waffles on Saturday Morning

I'm trying out some ideas that I'd been thinking about recently. I want to start a new year with some new traditions! For one, there's gonna be a Waffle Breakie on Sats' morning. I know I know sounds so ritualistic but I think it's quite quaint. Nothing nicer than nice crsipy moist waffles to start off the day, complete with screaming whinny kids who insist on watching Spongebob instead. Sooo...I had to bribe them...BOTH!! #1 with blueberries and #2, with everything but his actual breakfast.

With that, I finally found a waffle recipe that I can live with. No more pancake/waffle mix, they are not the real thing, just save your money instead. Waffles are not Pancakes and they are not interchangeable in my book! Pancakes are more cake-like in taste whereas waffles are light and moist on the inside and crisp on the outside. After a lot of web searching for the "perfect" waffle recipe, I found this one. It's easy and you mix almost everything and let it sit the night before. All you need to do is to mix in the rest of the ingredients while you wait for your waffle maker to heat up. It's that simple and garanteed success (erm...at least each time I make it, it's foolproof...so you really can't mess it up)

Ethan, who doesn't like all this cakey, pastry stuff, had a hard time getting him to even try it, but I managed to bribe him with blueberries ON VERY SINGLE "HOLE" OF HIS WAFFLE. But once he had some, he actually finished his whole waffle. Which was a feat by itself. He gave me one thumb up, hmm, I think it was the blueberries that he was giving thumbs up for! In any case, he finished it. As for Evan, he finished a whole waffle by himself, he got it in bits and pieces but he inhaled it, I guess it beats eating his "baby" food.

Meanwhile I will try variations of this recipe and see how far this Saturday morning "tradition" will last. I'm trying to create some memorable experiences with the boys, one of the few NY resolutions that I make for this year.

An answer to Fibs: I'll email the Pho recipe to you once I get that recipe outta my head! Hehehe...and yes, two years is a long hiatus...can I use laziness as a valid excuse??

First post in many moons. A new year, a new beginning to my dying blog...:) Hopefully that this time round I would up keep this site more often. You know, keep in touch with friends and family instead of writing way too many emails and slacking with that as well!! I'm a real bum!

Update: A new member of our little family, his name's Evan and he's 13 months old. He'll be sharing this blog space with mommy, daddy and his 4 year old bro, Ethan.

Not going on with a lot since I've a rib roast waiting for me to, ahhh, roast?!? Just want to give my New Year toast to everyone and have a great 2009 everyone!! :)

Fish & Noodle Soup

Since I don't really know the "real" name to call this dish, I'll just named it as it. Yes, there's fish in it....:) I just added whatever I could remember of this dish when my grams used to cook it or when we had it at some hawker center. It's been a looonnnngggg time and there're so many versions of this soupy delight out there that I'm not even gonna to delve into it. I'll leave it as such

Being in Lawrence, fresh fish is hard to come by and when I get the opportunity, I'll take it with no questions asked... Sometimes what you don't know it's better for you. I added whatever I could scavenge from my fridge so to clear everything out before the next major shopping in town. Of course, that means it might not be as authentic as the "real" thing. Overall it turned out to be a pretty rich broth but light as well. All you need is simply fresh fish and the rest is, well, whatever you can find in the fridge..:)

Recipe
Ingredients
-Red Snapper, Whole fish preferred and then cut up to bite size pieces.
-Salted mustard, rinsed and cut up
-Tofu, medium firm to firm
-Tomatoes, quartered
-Ginger, sliced (amount depends on how much you like ginger)
-Dried Seaweed, the China type (which usually comes in a circular form)
-Shaoxing wine
-Evaporated milk, amount depends on how rich you want it to be, I used 1 cup
-Thick vermicelli noodles, soaked in cold water for about 1 hr to soften it and then cooked in rapid boiling water till done.

Method
-Clean, towel-dried and cut the fish, salt it slightly and then set aside for now
-Drain the preserved liquid from the salted mustard by rinsing it under cold tap water a few times, you don't to soak it too much or it would just be too bland for the soup but enough to rinse off excess salt.
-Cut the tofu into cubes, quartered about 3 tomatoes, sliced up the ginger, hyrate those seaweed and ready for the frying of the fish pieces
-Heat up a pot with some oil, then add in the ginger slices, fried till fragrant and add in water or stock, enough for the soup part, I used water here since I ran out of home-made stock
-I used a deep-fryer here but any wok or sauce pot will do the trick. Deep fried the fish pieces, remember not to put in too many pieces at one time or it wouldn't really fry up. You don't want to really cook the fish through, just a quick blanch in the very hot oil. Take them out and set them aside on a kitchen towel to drain some of the excess oil
-Then once the water/stock is boiling, add in the tomatoes and salted mustard. Boil till tomatoes are softened.
-Then start to add the fried fish in, simmer at this point and add in the evaporated milk and wine.
-Taste before adding salt since the mustard is not thoroughly rinsed through and also some sugar to enhance soup.
-Once everything's done, add in the tofu cubes and seaweed and switched off the stove!
-Put the cooked noodles into a bowl, add the soup with little of everything, topped it with some chopped spring onions and you're done. Enjoy!

Not your everyday cup of "tea"

Eversince my move to Lawrence I'd been in a rather nostalgic mood. Making comfort food for me is something that totally soothes my soul, something akin to the culturally more popular, chicken soup. To me, having a good bowl of Bak Kut Teh is almost zen-like. I can't resist a good bowl of steaming, peppery, "herbally" soup. All my stress just totally melt away, I really don't care what other people have to say about it being an extremely rich decadent soup that adds pounds on you, hey, can't beat having to pay for therapy!!!

There're many versions of this soup but my perference is to use Seah's Bak Kut Teh Spice pack as the base for soup and using extra herbal ingredients to put together the final flavor. Most of the time this soup is served with chinese crullers as dippers but I prefer mine with thin noodles, it's just great. On the side for dipping is sliced thai chillis in dark sauce. As you can probabaly see, there are some chinese wolfberries in the soup as well..:)

To add to all the sentimental reasons for having this wonderfully rich tasting soup, it's also a good way to keep warm through the rather severe cold weather when we moved here. Lawrence, Kansas was apparently having one of the coldest and harsher winters they had seen in years, so this soup was really served as an "internal" temperature regulator for the whole family.

In retrospect, it's the little things in life that counts. Especially with this move, I've to realise that things are just not going to be what they used to be and the only way to deal with it is to think and be positive. One of the things I like to do to maintain whatever sanity and normancy in our lives is to just cook comfort foods; foods that we can always relate to and feel comfortable with.

PS: Just a small announcement, we have finally got into contract with the house that we were bidding on and hopefully close on this Thursday. Awfully close and unexpected but if everything turns out the way it is, we will be in a new place the week after this and "officially" start our life in Lawrence....;)

"We are no longer in Kansas", I mean, Texas..:)

I know, I know, I haven't posted for quite some time but there were some major changes in our lives these past couple of months. First of all....I'm no longer in Texas..:( I've relocated to Lawrence, Kansas, a small college town somewhere in Kansas. Technically, my lil' family had moved here. It was not an easy decision but it was for a better good, rather, a better goal. So despite all reluctance to move from Texas, a place where we have called home for ten years, we packed up whatever we could hold in two cars and left the state to another. It was heartwrenching for me. Sometimes, you never know what you had lost till you lose it. I didn't think I would miss Texas that much. After a while, I began to realise that I was homesick!! Strange even to say it.
When I first lived in Texas, I chanced upon this bumper sticker, it said "I wasn't born in Texas, but I came as fast a I could". I thought that was just too funny. Now that I'm no
longer residing there, I totally understand what that means.

Texas is one of those places that grows on you, it sneaks under your skin and before you know it, you're hooked! I'm always a little cynical of Texas' bigger than life mentality and sneered a little at their belief of it being a "worldly metropolitan" city. Well, I was wrong! Yes, it has its quirks and what not but trust that bumper sticker! The only regret I had was that I didn't really "make use" of my time there. In retrospect, I could have "utilize" my time there a little better. As for considering itself as a metropolitan town. It is, in its own special way; it's very multi-cultural and you have almost everything you would need in that lil' big town.
All in all, Texas is a big state with an even bigger heart! Definitely one of the friendliest people I had ever met! You know what, I could even live with the heat if I could stay there just one more day. Alas, we had to move and move we did......

Lawrence is a good place for small families like us but it's not Texas. Being brought up in a city environment, I guess I'm just not used to the small town, country life. Lawrence has its beauty, it's very scenic (codeword for country/rural) and very quaint (codeword for one of everything instead of 50 of everything). You don't pay for "options" of the big city which is a very good

thing. And once I get over the FACT that it's NOT Texas, I think I would be able to enjoy its perks. Meanwhile I'll just wallow over the fact that I'm no longer IN Texas!!! Lawrence, Kansas is a good place but Texas....an even better place...

The pics here are taken on my day in Lawrence from our apt balconey. All that snow is a pretty sight, a definite change from Texas scenery (give my city skyline!!). My husband had been real "guilty" about the move since he knew I love the city life, so he had been so nice as to drive us to Kansas City each weekend so I wouldn't be that "homesick". It's awfully sweet of him, but really, I'm sick of the long drive already!!!! On a bittersweet note, we are going back to Dallas next week................TO PACK UP THE REST OF OUR STUFF FOR THE MOVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baking Frenzy

My hands are itching to create something new for Christmas but the rest of my body is just too darn lazy to get it off my behind and do something! Ok...I think I just have to psych myself to just DO something!! Here's some of the bakings I'd done over the week...nothing much...just something to, hopefully, motivate myself to get baking again... I think all these Christmas hype is seriously putting my spirits in in the damper...oh well....that and some other stuff....:)


I made some chicken potpie and after all the picture taking, didn't realise that I didn't get one that's sliced.. Oh well...people, just have to use your imagination..:) I made the chicken filling using cut to cube chicken breast meat (on hindsight, probably should had used the dark meat instead, juicier!), celery, carrots, potatoes (as a natural thickener), peas, onions and let's see, oh yah, some water. Cook them like you would a stew. I added all that ingredients (albeit it's a lot of ingredients but I wanted to clear all my remainding veges in the crisper) in a pot and cooked till done and let cooled. I had some frozen pastry sheets and used them for the crust. Baked it at 350F till crust turned golden brown. Oh yah, before putting in oven, brushed them with egg wash to get that browness. Turned out great. Ed's not a great fan of potpies but he had no complaints nonetheless. As for Ethan, well....he was a little skeptical of it...like father, like son!! BUT for those who loves potpies, this is one easy way to make one at home and a great way to utilise all those itty bitty veges you have laying around your fridge!

And as I STILL have some more pastry sheets (geez....I really don't know how I got that amount in the first place, must had gone pastry happy and gotten more than I really needed!!!). I made some sausage rolls. Same method as the chicken potpie but just different fillings (...the possibilities....); I made these rolls with some leftover sausages (take the meat out of the casings) and pan fried them with chopped onions, peas, carrots and as a final touch, some spring onions. You can add any herbs you wished, I added some rosemary just coz I like it! :) Let the filling cooled, lay your pastry sheet out and rolled them out a little, add the filling, not too much and rolled it up, smeared some egg wash or water to seal the ending of the rolls. Stuffed it back in the fridge to chill for at least an hour (trust me, your pieces wouldn't disintegrate into odd looking bits). Then take it out to cut them into bite-sized rolls. Egg washed and sprinkled with sesame seeds...or not...your choice. Baked them at 350F till done, about 30 to 45 mins.

And no, I didn't use ANY pastry crust here....I had FINALLY finished all those pastry I had stored in my freezer like I was waiting for some pastry convention to hit town!!! Those are oatmeal-raisin cookies. MY FAVS!!! I would love to share this recipe but I think it's protected by some copyright laws out there since I got it from a cookbook. Actually Martha Stewart's I think, so check it out. Since I'm on the topic, this is one good book to get if you enjoy baking, although I think some of the recipes are a little off(that or my oven's and measuring cups are off, I really don't know), it's overall a really good book. One more thing, I don't know if you can tell, but I made this cookies giant!! First it saves time and some space and also, I'm lazy (if no one realise that by now) . Second, it's just impressive and fascinating to just look at giant cookies. Ok...I just realise how silly that sounds but really, giant cookies are just cool to stare at...makes you wonder what in the world was the baker thinking when he/she made them!! hehehe....I guess I'm the only one who does that....ooookkkk....

Enough of my crazy pre-christmas insanity post, right now attempting to make some christmas cookies...hahahah...let's see how those turn out!!!

The Science of Chicken Rice : Singapore Style

Chicken Rice is one of those universal dish. You can pretty much find a variety of chicken rice dishes from every culture in the world. Where I'm from, Singapore, chicken rice has raisen to the ranks of what best epitomized Singapore cusine despite our multi-cultural society.

Almost everyone I know back home loves a good chicken rice meal, but finding a good place for that is the toughest thing to do. Everyone has their favorites so it's not that easy to agree on one. There're many minute details that people look for in their chicken rice. It could be texture of the rice, the flavor of the rice, or the chicken, the type of chicken used....etc...the list goes on. For me, it's simple... I like my rice flavorful, not too oily and my chicken tender and smooth, not overcooked.



After years of making this dish at home, I finally come up with a method that actually ensure a tender and smooth chicken each time. The only problem to that is that is rather time-consuming. Nevertheless I still make this dish...knowing at the end of cooking I get to sit down and savor a seriously good meal!! That's what motivates me to make it! Oh that and the fact that I'm greedy!



These days you can take a short cut on making the flavored rice with a bottle of ready-made chicken rice sauce. It gives the same authentic Singapore Style chicken rice but you can take the long way if you want to..just for the sake. I usually focus on making the chicken the right way...coz it's nothing worse that eating tough to chew chicken coz of overcooking!

Due to health concerns and the fact I lost the vote, I made this dish with just chicken breast meat but it's best with a whole chicken. Remainding chicken could be used in other dishes; eg, chicken pasta salad. Somehow using just part of the chicken just doesn't make good chicken rice nor tender juicy chicken! *personal opinion* :)