Starfish or Flower?

Does it look like a starfish to you, or does it look like a flower?

Darling son has been coughing and sneezing the past week. I was just glad that his fever was gone. He had been eating the less oily, and easily digested meals for the past week. He had scallop porridge yesterday, and today, I cooked the porridge in chicken stock.

Eating porridge can be boring, especially if you do not like eating it.

"Hey, there's a flower in your porridge!", my effort in trying to make his lunch sounds interesting.

He ran over, looked at his bowl of porridge, and replied "It's a starfish!".

Oh well, it doesn't really matter, as long as he finish his meal. He did, and he asked for more grape tomatoes. He finished half the box of grape tomatoes I bought that afternoon.

Ikan Bilis Porridge

Still on the "porridge wagon", since the man is still not feeling too good.

Using chicken broth, soak the rice (short grain) and the anchovies (Ikan Bilis) for a couple of hours if you can. Cook the porridge over low heat. Add some slices of fish when the porridge is almost cooked. Blanch some spinach in a pot of slightly salted water. Rinse the blanched spinach over cold water. Drain and squeeze out excess water. Cut using a pair of scissors, into very tiny pieces. Add into the pot of cooked porridge.

A simple meal to warm the stomach when you are hungry and not feeling too well.

Chicken Stock Porridge

I had been cooking light meals for hubby dear for the last few days. It was not very fun to be eating noodles for all your meals when you fall sick. I am no "厨神", so eventually, I end up cooking porridge for him!

To make the porridge less "boring", I used chicken stock instead of water to cook the porridge. He doesn't like his porridge to be very sticky and mushy. He likes it with a considerable amount of liquid .. just like the Hokkien porridge. So I added some water to the chicken stock, cooking the porridge with more liquid. The rice was soaked in the chicken stock and water mixture for almost 4 hours before cooking. I sliced up a fillet of tilapia, and marinated it with some shaoxing wine. When the porridge was almost cooked, I added the pieces of tilapia into the porridge. I sprinkled some parsley leaves on top of the bowl of porridge before serving.

The porridge has the flavor of chicken stock, but not oily and overly salty. He was happy with his dinner, and asked for porridge as lunch the next day. It had been quite hectic in the kitchen, having to prepare his meal and the kids' meals separately. But it was worth the effort and time =)

Comfort Food

Rainy days, cloudy days, days when I'm sick .... I yearn for a bowl of porridge! And this is what I would normally cook =)

1/4 cup Short Grain Rice

2 soup spoonful of Dried Scallops

Enough water for cooking porridge

• Soak the rice and scallops in water for at least 1 hour.
• Cook the porridge till done.
• Serve warm.

You can add some blanched broccoli into the porridge for a more wholesome meal.

This is one simple, sweet, warm meal to lift my spirits!

吃 在 口 里， 甜 在 心 里

有 客 到！ 是 谁？

可 爱 老 公 也！

欢 迎， 欢 迎！

谢 谢 你 为 我 煮 粥 。。 我 吃 在 口 里， 甜 在 心 里 。。

前阵子感冒了。白天还好，没什么大碍。

一到了晚上就咳得厉害，好像就快把喉咙也咳出来似地拼命咳。虽然我像患了哮喘病似地拼命咳嗽，幸好不是猪瘟找上门来，谢天谢地。

太太（即此部落格的“女神厨”—piggymummy ^_^）于是煮了一锅又一锅的止咳汤啦，润肺汤啦，川贝水啦，等之类的药材汤给我喝。我心里暗想：“这下子可好啦，天天有好汤喝。咳久一点也没关系。呵呵⋯⋯”结果我足足咳了一个月，也喝尽了一个月的好汤。但太太也失眠了一整个月。因为太太不仅关心我的健康，半夜枕边不停的咳声和鼾声成交响乐，想必她也没好觉睡。

病好了，我这个做丈夫的折磨了这个好老婆这么久总不能没有表示。说肉麻点儿，太太的体贴和温柔倒真的让我好感动。我想，乘感恩节的长周末为她做点儿饭菜，让她休息一两天。那天我炒了个蛋炒饭和做了道ABC汤。（我想，汤名叫ABC，应该简单不过。）孩子和太太当晚给的口碑出乎我预料之中的好，也让我有信心尝试下厨。

于是，因为太太喜欢吃广东粥而 在 “woods" 好难找到好粥，我便尝试煮道“红豆花生养血粥”给她了。

虽然自己的厨艺不算怎样，但是我肯定会有更多下厨的尝试。因为简单的幸福就在太太吃着粥时露出的微笑。


食谱是从粉樱的部落格学的：

红豆花生养血粥

（我稍微做了更改）

材料1


红豆 : 50－100g
花生 : 50g

红枣 : 10枚

材料2

米 : 150g (洗净)



材料3

冰糖 : 适量



1) 将材料1洗净, 加水浸泡1-4小时后,
用大火煮沸后, 转小火煮约半至一小时


2) 加入材料2慢火续煮至米烂豆熟时, 加入红糖或片糖
调味, 即可食用。



* 功能补气养血, 安神补脑。一般人多能食用, 如学生、脑力工作者、年老记忆力减退、妇女月经量少、睡眠不安、 失眠梦多、容易疲倦等。


* 常食用能强身健体, 增强脑力如体质较燥热者，红枣及桂圆的分量则减少