Sunday, 11th June 2006

Last post for the day. I'm leaving you with a little wild animal captured in Jungle Gym in the remote wilderness of Kiulap.

Tuesday, 20th June 2006

Pork Leg




















Sweet & Sour Pork Rice



















The seafood tofu claypot thingy.


















Mark's Sweet & Sour Pork Rice



















Corn Soup with black vinegar


Lunch with Mark & J at TH.

1. Sweet & Sour Pork with Fried Rice for Mark
2. Sweet Corn Soup with Crabmeat & bamboo pith
3. Braised Pork Leg with Sea Cucumber & Mushrooms
4. Seafood with Tofu with Scallop Sauce served in a claypot (3rd time I'm featuring this)

I am fullllllll, hot, bloated, fat. My hair is stringy and dry today, my face needs a facial badly, my toe nails are unpainted, my watch and rings are like tight vices on my wrist/fingers, I can hardly see as my eyelids and cheeks are in the way. OK you got it, it's a massive BAD BODY day. Some lucky people just have a bad hair day - me, I have it ALL.

Tuesday, 13th June 2006

Here is the promised and long-awaited Girls' Dinner with J & Hl. Hl was ravenous and so were we, as J & I had spent a fantastic hour buying up kitchen supplies at HH. We bought about 50 airtight plastic containers in varying sizes, brooms, mops, pails, plastic bags, sponges, loo brushes, trays and lots more stuff for her new place. We ended up with 3 loaded trolleys. I was on such a high from shopping, and insisted on going to HH again, to continue shopping after dinner.

But we're here to talk about dinner, so here are the pics:

Classic lasagna



Fettuccine with sweet, fresh prawns ( 1 order)



Boneless lamb shanks with Fettuccine ( 2 orders )



Fetuccine Carbonara with Chicken (2 orders)

The only pics missing are the Fettuccine with cubed salmon in cream sauce and the pizza (half 4 cheese, half mixed mushrooms). I dusted black pepper and chilli flakes over all my plates of food.

This restaurant had a ridiculous offer on for June, its 'Eat all you can - Pasta & Pizza' at $12.80 for adults and $6.00 for children and this includes free coke too.... hahaha... I've been back again with the entire group (UR, J, Wm,P, etc) last Saturday. But no pics as I was too busy with food and wine..

Friday, 16th June 2006

I was up at 5.30 am again, and felt very very hungry as I was out with Wm & S the night before and we shared 2 bottles of wine, with nothing to eat except snacks. I had a craving for something spicy, salty. soupy and steaming HOT and oily, and carbo-ey. Yes, you guessed it, I'm PMS-ing again!!!!! And what best suits all the above descriptions??

LAKSA - Kuching style, with light coconut gravy but very very flavourful and as I added in two dishes of sambal, that made it extra HOT, it was sooooooo good! Oh yes, and a splash of soysauce to make it s-a-l-t-y.....

Here it is.

Monday, 12th June 2006

Another busy day at office No. 2. I'm tired and exhausted.......

This was my dinner that evening.

I opened a tin of Alaskan Red Salmon, added chopped chillies and shallots, salt & pepper. Wolfed it down with a bottle of beer while trying to catch up with the weekend papers. Ate with Mark & Hazel, who had another Ermie's Surprise.

Friday, 16th June 2006

After work today, I popped over to J's new place to help her sort out her kitchen and decorate her living room. Her new pad has 4 floors if you count the roof garden. Climing up and down 3 flights of stairs from the foyer to the sleeping areas, gave my legs a good work-out!

I left at 8.00 pm and Mark and I went for a 'light' Japanese meal. I had a half order of salmon sashimi, all to myself, and 2 plates of sushi, Mark had his favourite torikatsu (breaded chicken), ebiko (sushi with prawn roe) and a California Maki Special.

I ate all the salad which was served with the sashimi and torikatsu. I made a dressing out of soysauce, wasabi, dash of the fruity sauce which they serve with the torikatsu (tasted like Lea & Perrins, HP sauce kind of flavours) and lots of crunchy black & white sesame seeds. The salad consisted of shredded carrots, radish, red cabbage & sliced cucumber and tomato, with some lettuce. Accompanied by the 'make as you go' salad dressing, it was yummy!!!!!!

Tuesday, 20th June 2006

Went back to No.1 office today. Mark & I had breakfast at CNH before I came in. Mark had his usual kolomee and a plate of fried fish fillets and I had Ah Kong Kueh Teow. Don't ask me why it's called as such, as Ah Kong means grandpa - maybe it's Gilbert's grandpa's recipe or favourite, whatever.

My kueh teow was quite delicious with a firey wokey taste. Mark's kolomee looked too pale but it had the usual klm taste, garlic/shallot oil, soy sauce, minced meat, spring onions & roast pork. I had some and it was pretty good - nice and oily!!!!! A kolomee is not kolomee if it doesn't leave a sheen of OIL on and around your lips.

Tuesday, 13th June 2006

I've been pretty much snowed under at work and I love it. The lack of postings is because of waking up at 5.30 am, sometimes earlier, surfing for an hour, turning up at work at 7 am, finishing at 5.30 pm, doing the swimming run, groceries, running between 2 work places, keeping on top of paper work, giving attention to my kiddies, sleeping at 10 pm. I haven't had time to cook this week and my poor kids have been subjected to 'Ermie's Surprises' every day. I am REALLY looking forward to losing some weight but nothing has happened yet.

Watch our for my next post:

Girls Dinner - J, HL & me (Tuesday, 13th June 2006)
Food - 7 (yes, seven) plates of pasta & 1 pizza
Drink - A jug of sticky sweet coke (non diet)

I think meals like this will provide an explanation of why I've not lost a single miserable gram.

On another topic, I hardly read or pay much attention to the horoscopes but last Sunday's Libra posting in the Straits Times couldn't be more true:

"Finally, you feel your talents are appreciated. You delight in the good fortune of being able to move with people who continuously expose you to opportunities to prove yourself. It pays to experiment".

Hey, that seems to have been written for me!

Friday, 9th June 2006

Dinner tonight was kai choy (mustard leaves) with stuffed tofu, chillies, bittergourd, broccoli, ladies fingers. I made the soup base by frying lots of garlic, some chopped dried prawns and silverfish. I added water, simmered it for 15 minutes to let the flavours develop, added a tiny blob of organic veg stock and finally added vegetables and stuffed stuff. Boil lightly for 5 mins and serve. Had some fiery chillies with soy sauce on the side. It was good! The kids had pasta with chicken, mushroom, bacon cream sauce. We were all very happy and contented after our dinner, Mark went on his PS2, I did some homework while watching Jamie Oliver, and Hazel did some painting. A silent and satisfied and full family.

Friday, 9th June 2006

An entire year without these. My last cigarette was at 10.15 am on 9th June 2005.

Not a single sneaky puff since then, but inhaled lots of second hand smoke courtesy of my friends. How do I feel? My lungs, breath, hair, skin all feel good BUT my poor body, I've piled on 10 whole kgs......

CONGRATULATE ME PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(not on the weight gain, on the quitting, I mean)


By the way, these are NOT my cigarettes - I'm just the custodian of cigarettes for a certain someone.... hehe

Thursday, 8th June 2006

Mark received a parcel and birthday card today from J, D, T & B in Vancouver. it was a Vancouver T-shirt, just slightly too big but I'm sure he'll grow into it before you know it.

Thank you to the Stokes.

Thursday, 8th June 2006

The helper made chicken rice tonight. It was awful, all bland and tasteless. Hazel ate her portion anyway and Mark opened a tin of silds in olive oil and had it with toast. He still ate some rice though. But I ate some rice and some of the chicken which the helper had deboned and put into the fridge with A WHOLE BOWL OF GINGER SAUCE with shallots. I swear I'll set myself on fire with the heat in my stomach right now.

Wednesday, 7th June 2006

Made this very simple pasta dish for Mark & Hazel. Its little pasta shells with bacon. First cut bacon into small pieces and pound some cloves of garlic. Fry the bacon till slightly crispy, add bit more olive oil and throw in the pounded garlic. Do not let it brown. Add parsley, salt & pepper and some flavoured breadcrumbs. If mixture look too dry, add splash of olive oil. Cook pasta shells, drain and keep a tablespoon or so of the pasta water. Drain and return pasta to the pot with the pasta water. Toss, add the hot bacon mixture, mix and serve! It smelt quite heavenly. It took half an hour to put the whole meal together.

Tuesday, 6th June 2006

Had lunch at PM again with Wm and her colleagues.

I had Wat Tan Hoe (which is smooth egg broad rice noodles) - with prawns and fish fillets and choy sum. It was so so yummy, full of woky eggy flavour. It was a great carbo fix.

Monday, 5th June 2006

Quiet night - had Kai Lan and beef for dinner. The beef was good and nicely marinated but the kai lan was so OLD and fibrous and I like my vegs fibrery. After I worked my way through the plate, I developed a headache from all that chewing. That is something which I will not buy again.

Sunday, 4th June 2006

FISH SOUP WITH HOLEY TOFU

Wm made a huge vat of fish soup, with tofu (they turned holey after being boiled for many hours), salted mustard leaves, tomatoes, carrots, orange peel & ginger. She spent the entire morning making the soup - I think the most time went into frying the fish, then boiling them, straining and reboiling. (Wm, please correct the recipe or add anything which I've not included).

It was served with kueh teow, lots of quickly blanched still crunchy beansprouts and poached seaweed. Lots of pepper, diced spring onions, sliced ginger and freshly cut chilli with soy sauce on the side for those who wanted them.

It was DELICIOUS.

Especially for you, Sil, Fish Soup with Holey Tofu.


p.s My clever nephew, D, found the food feature in my camera. This explains why the above pics are sooooooo much clearer than ALL my earlier shots. Well done, D. He also gave me a quick tutorial on working with photoshop yesterday. Thanks, D!

Saturday, 3rd June 2006

In memory of Dad

who passed away peacefully on

3rd June 2005

after a short battle with cancer.

21st March 1925 - 3rd June 2005

Saturday, 3rd June 2006

Mark's birthday cake - fresh cream mango cake and the usual birthday doughnuts which we always have.

Saturday, 3rd June 2006

We had Mark's 12th birthday dinner at our favourite restaurant, TH. M had a bowl of sharksfin soup as starters. ( sorry, sharks )

The menu:

1. Crispy Butter Chicken



2. Sweet & Sour Pork



3. Pork Chops with Guiness Stout Sauce



4. Deep Fried Fish with light soy sauce



5. Sizzling Tofu with minced pork and egg base



6. Belly Pork with Mushrooms served in a claypot



7. Fried Rice



8. Tofu with Seafood with X.O. (scallop) sauce served in a claypot
9. Baby Kai Lan with Garlic
10. Deep fried prawns with salted egg yolk ( something new which they persuaded us to try but I didn't like it)

No pics for 8, 9, & 10 as I was too hungry by then to take an individual shot but you can see the prawns in the middle of the table.

Here's a pic of P, Wm & D taken from my place.

Thursday, 1st June 2006

Made curry chicken for dinner tonight. I had a tiny portion of rice and 2 drumsticks with 2 pieces of potatoes while watching Nigella Lawson make lots of salads on TV.



The children had lasagna. Extra rich cheesy sauce....

M's portion.