All Hallow's Eve

Picky Eater

Ok, Thanks to San I HAD to make some Chicken Rice!!! Once again, thanks San! :p But luckily for me, I make this rather often and it was quick and almost "painless". Also there's now a "shortcut" to making the fragrant rice eversince I found Chng Kee's Chicken Rice Sauce. Makes things sooo much easier!!! Hehehhe...Now that I've said it...to the main issue!

My husband "claims" that he's not a picky eater!!! YAH RIGHT!! He's what I call a closeted picky eater, I think it's about time I EXPOSED him for what he REALLY is!!!

He always "CLAIMS" that he can eat everything...except when food's presented to him, he would give remarks like "you know, I always avoid eating claypot rice coz I don't enjoy everything in one pot" OR "I don't eat meats that are boiled" OR "It's steamed" OR "I'm not used to eating this this way". Ok, those are some of the examples. Thing is, he's a really fussy eater and doesn't want to admit it coz he doesn't want people to think that he's very particular of what he eat!

To statement ONE, he doesn't eat claypot rice but he would Steamed Glutinous Rice or better known as Lor Mai Gai. Erm...just the difference in the rice. He would also eat Chinese Rice Dumplings!!!!

To statement Two, he doesn't like boiled meats. He LOVES Steamboat!! Does that explain away the boiled meat issue! So are those in curry, they are boiled too, just not with plain water...*Sigh*

To the last statement, he's not used to eating ANYTHING that's not Thai style! Which in his mind means sweet, spicy, more sweet and spicier.

He also said that he doesn't like tomatoes but it's ok in curries coz he doesn't see them in order for him to complain about. What he doesn't see, he doesn't know.

He also doesn't eat a whole bunch of other things....oh yah, did I mention that my husband's not a picky eater?!?!?

Meanwhile I've to cook like I've two toddler boys in the house. TRICK THEM!!! What they don't see, they will eat without fuss!!! LOL!!! Both of my boys loved everything as long as it's FRIED, SWEET, DEEP FRIED, SWEETER and erm...fried??? Well, you get the idea. But you know what...:D They can complain all they want, I'm the only one in the household who's doin' the cooking....so they can either starve or stop whinning and eat up! :D I totally RULE!!! :D (my hubby can't cook and I'm not exergerating either!!!)

Oh yah...my email's been acting up again, so to San and Fib, thanks for those eCards!!! Thanks!!!!!!! :D

Halloween Party: Monkey

Just some pics that I'd taken of Ethan in his Halloween costume. He was a little monkey and sooooo cute! So many pics, but most of those at his party turned out rather blurred. However those taken with the camcorder was ok. I guess he was just too fast for the camera! LOL


Cheeky Monkey


Mischievious Monkey


Tired Monkey


Random Monkey Poses

Some random food I made over the course of last week. Sambal Eggplants / Wat Tan Hor Fun/ Deep Fried Thai Fish/ Siew Mai/ Gan Jiang Chicken

Meme: Childhood Food Memories

Carrying on the meme baton from Little Corner of Mine


I've so many food memories that I really don't know where to begin. I'm really blessed with all the wonderful food I had in my childhood. My paternal family's Peranakan and my maternal side's Cantonese. So I've a lot favourites...nevertheless, I'll try and limit it to just 5! hehehe..

Each time I utter these words my husband would sigh! Before he had tried it, he had never ever heard of this dish. I tried to describe to the best of my knowledge but failed. Then he finally had a taste of it, he didn't like it(I think it's an acquired taste, like durian). It's not easy to get it and most of the time, it's not even that good. The dish is Ayam Buah Keluak and I think it's as authentic a Peranakan dish as you can get. Translated, it's called Chicken in Black Nut Curry. And I think the Black Nut is only available in Indonesia. Each Peranakan household has their own special "brew" for making this dish. So there's no exact replica of this dish anywhere! The first time I had it(I think it was at my paternal grandmother's place), I fell in love with it!!! It's sooo sooooo gooooddddd.... It takes days to actually prepare this dish mainly because of the black nuts but it's worth the wait and the anticipation!

I know I'll always remember Sunday mornings whereby my dad would ask us(my bro and I)what we want for brunch as he and mom were going to the market. I would always asked for Yong Tau Foo. My absolute favorite!! Not just from any store, it has to be from this particular store at this coffeeshop at Clementi. They were really really good. They were always so crowded and you had to wait FOREVER to get your order. They are no longer in the Yong Tau Foo business now but I can still remember the great flavours of that dish. Somehow all the other Yong Tau Foo I had don't seem to come close to this store!

When I was little, we used to plant a lot of our vegetables. My maternal grandma lived with us and she is a great gardener. Everything she planted, grew beautifully. Of course, she's also a great cook. She used to teach me how to grow these wonderful vegetables, unfortunately I'm not endowed with a green thumb! So she would helped my vegetable patch on the sneak and I would then have the harvest that I can be happy about! I had this winter melon patch and each time it had winter melons, we would have this fantastic soup. My grandma would used the hollowed out melon as the bowl and steamed it with chicken, chinese mushrooms, dried scallops and what nots. This Double Steamed Winter Melon is what I craved for each time I see them winter melons in the grocery stores here. I can remember the taste of it, it's a full-bodied rich yet light soup. Something about growing your own food makes it taste even better!

Then there's the Apolo Banana Leaf's Fish Head Curry . Our family used to go to the original Banana Leaf wayyyy before they had a/c. You eat in the heat and you sweat with it! Tons of Lime juice to go with that. It was the best combination and still is. Now they are all "grown-up" with the a/c, the new location, the crowds, the glamour... But I still go back and eat whenever I'm in town. They are still as good, I believe (at least in my opinion).

Finally, one of my favs, Fish Ball Noddles! Not just any store. There was this famous Fish Ball Noodle store in the old Bukit Timah Market(of course, it's no longer there, they have been closed for a long time now). But that place has the best noodles ever, it's all in the sauce! I remembered having to take a number and wait for ages. They were always busy and it didn't help when you're hungry either. The "chef" was this old wry man and his adult children helped out. I would also remembered that although they had a real bad attitude, people would buy from them! They are THAT good! Their policy was that if you can't stand them, you dont' have to order from them! Ahhhh...good old days!! LOL

Well it was tough just limiting to five, but I made it! hehehe...Now I'm going to pass the baton to
1.Ventalation Space
2.Travel Light

Nature's Beauty

I love the Holiday Seasons!! I consider the start of October as "the Holiday Seasons"!!! You see, in October there's Halloween! Then in November, there's Thanksgiving, in December there's Christmas!! I mean, what more can you ask for (of course, there's more, but let's not digress).



Although the Texas weather has not been too cooperative(meaning, it really doesn't feel like the "season" since it's averaging at 85F to date, not at all "christmasy"), I think Autumn is peeking out. Some of the leaves are turning golden and falling off the trees, the grass are turning to almost a shade of burnt orange. Days are shorter and Ethan's getting cheekier(no relation, but what the heck!)



Took this opportunity to take some pics of the annoying creeping ivy growing on one of my hedges. Yah, it's a wild ivy and sprouts amazingly pretty red berries in the Fall season. I know it's a weed but I never had the heart to take that out. This is one weed that I allow to live in my yard (yah, I'm guilty of weeed-o-cide! I hired the chemlawn dudes!! *evil snickering"). They are just too pretty to destroy. Besides, it's too high up on the hedge for me to trim.



Made Kway Chap over the weekend. Had some company so I decided to make some dessert as well. Didn't have time to make an Asian dessert but had some really good-looking strawberries. So decided to make some Strawberry and Cream Short Cake. Hmmm....It tasted pretty good, although the presentation could have been much better. Hey, it's the taste that counts right?!?!

Weekend

Picnic at the arboretum

Had a little picnic at the arboretum on Sat. It was really nice and cool. A lot of people were out there too, enjoying the great weather. It was simply perfect!


Dallas Arboretum

Some pics I took while we were there. They had some really great fall flowers eg, mums and what not, lots of butterflies were around too, I'd have thought that the cool weather would have driven them away. Guess not...oh well...


food for the weekend

From left to right on the top: Herbs for my Steamed Herbal Chicken, then had to make some Thai Papaya Salad. You see, we were at a friend's place on Sat and his wife made Papaya salad and Yum Woon Sen. It was sooo good...I just needed more even after we left their place. I usually don't really enjoy Thai food that much but this was different, it was THAT good! So went back home, bought some ingredients on the way back and made some too! Heheheh.. I followed the Thai style of this salad and our friend's was more of a laosian style. Doesn't matter, it was GREAT!!! I didn't make the Yum Woon Sen (errmm...I got lazy) but I made Ground Pork with Lime Juice (next pic). It's Thai too and usually eaten with Glutinous rice but you can eat it with regular rice (ok....I didn't prepare the rice, it was an impromptu thing!!!) which we did. And lastly decided to make some Otak Otak (had serious cravings over the weekend!!). With the leftovers I made them into Otak Otak buns!! Also delicious. I still have some papaya left from making the salad, probably might make some more...hehehe...



Mischeivious Monkey

Just my silly monkey up to no good. Right now he's into climbing! He climbs EVERYWHERE!! He even went to the extend of pushing his toy box to the washer and used that as a step to get onto the washer. I heard him giggling and I knew he was up to no good!! When I found him, he looked at me and tried to hug and kiss me!! CHEEKY LITTLE BUGGER!!! Caught him here climbing onto his toy jeep!! *sigh* my little monkey. Currently he's into twirling!! Hehehe...sounds weird but he's twirling! He's also "discovered" his own shadow and kept trying to touch it! LOL it's hilarious to see the little goofball! And yah, he even answers to the name "goofball" I wondered if we are executing the right parenting skill???

Snippets of the little "monkey"

1 pea, 2 pea, 3 pea......errr...where was I??


yah.........that's not a pea mommy!!!


singsong voice :naaanahnahnahanaaaaaaahhhh


uh-oh

Footnote: Still trying to look for a monkey costume for my little "monkey" for Halloween!