Diet - Day 9

Day 9 - Wednesday, 20th September

Breakfast - Fried Kueh Teow with Beef and Egg (Super fattening)
Lunch - Tea with 2 sweet biscuits
Dinner - Watercress soup in chicken stock & 2 teaspoons of choc chip cheesecake
Exercise - Nil

(Diet rapidly flying out of the window)!

Monday, 18th September

I finally made it to Rossmini's soto in Gadong with J for lunch today. I had a kasturi ping and soto special. It was good, very good, but I prefer the soto at S & S, as I prefer my soups to be clear and Rossmini's soup is cloudy. But still delicious, nonetheless.

The fried egg in the soup was a nice touch! And wow, their chilli paste is amazing.... We had extra fried chicken and this was quite tasty with a simple salt & turmeric marinade and deepfried without batter.



Cold and refreshing kasturi ping or lime juice with ice.

Tuesday, 19th September

I had lunch with J and her colleagues at Sweet and Savoury again. What a gem this restaurant is. It is so clean and pleasant and the food is fabulous. Beautifully cooked, with perfect blending of spices and tastes. The owners take great pride in their restaurant and you can sense this as soon as you walk in. Their tables, cutlery and even placemats are squeakingly clean, their floors sparkle, there is no lingering smell of grease (as in many other restaurants), and their condiment dishes are spotless and greasefree. Perfect for a clean freak like me. 10 out of 10 for cleanliness and more for their food.

I had their fabulous Nyonya Laksa, strands of vermicelli in a spicy, coconut broth, with kafir lime leaves, lemon grass and I love the blob of belachan on top. I always add at least 3 to 4 teaspoons of chilli paste to add the extra bite. I looove spicy food.



J's colleagues shared a Tom Yum Soup with Stuffed Tofu. I tried the soup and it was another winner. The prawn stock which was the base of the soup was amazing and together with coconut milk and other spices, the soup was amazingly tasty. I'll have that the next time I go.

I was still hungry after this so I shared a beef soto with J. Bounced back to the office all fat and happy after that feeding.

Diet - Day 8

Day 8, Wednesday, 19th Sept

Breakfast - Tea and 2 Waitrose Bourbon biscuits
Lunch - Laksa & half portion soto (share with J)
Dinner - Beverages with S & S
Exercise - Nil

Hi S, nice evening!

Diet - Day 7

Day 7 - Monday, 18th September

Breakfast - Cereal with soy milk and a banana
Lunch - ROSSMINI's SOTO - made it, finally, made it
Dinner - Large plate of stirfried vegs & small bowl of chicken soup & handful of peanuts
Exercise - Nil

Sunday, 17th September 2006

Random shots from Sunday:

Hazel's lunch before she went to the pool to take part in her events (50 m free and 50m relay free)



Hazel participating in the 10 x 50m tyre relay



Chicken pies from SD - very disappointing - hardly any filling inside and what there was was dry with hardly any chicken pieces.

Sunday, 17th September 2006

In the middle of the swimming competition, I went out with J to Cinnamon to look at table linen and to have soto at Sweet & Savoury. I had 2 failed soto attempts earlier that morning (first one at Rossmini and second at SD - both places firmly shut) so I was determined to have soto come what may.

It did not fail to disappoint - I doused the soto with vinegar, soy sauce and chilli paste. Wow! Extreme soto - super tasty with crunchy beansprouts and tasty beefy shank slices and tripe.

Sunday, 17th September

I woke at 5.30 am (yes, 5.30 am) to make sandwiches for Mark who was expected to be at the pool at 7 am to report for a swimming competition. Half asleep, I made 3 huge ham and cucumber sandwiches, with grainy bread, mayo, mustard, black pepper and tin ham.

Tasty sandwiches






Mark's lunch bag

Diet - Day 6

Day 6 - Sunday, 17th September

Breakfast - High Fibre Cereal with soy milk and 2 bananas
Lunch - One small ham sandwich & 1 SD mini chicken pie
Tea - Soto at Sweet & Savoury (YUMEEEEEEEEEEE!)
Dinner - Handful of Peanuts
Exercise - Nil

To be continued.....

Friday, 15th September 2006

Kiddies gone avisiting their grandparents some 90 kms away. I went looking for roasting pans and cutlery but didn't buy any - with the ongoing BGS, I'm leaving all my options open. Later spent the entire afternoon lounging around, reading magazines and my old cookbooks, drinking tea, channel surfing and internet, in my oldest comfiest clothes. Emerged at 5.30 pm to cook this. French Beans with Tomato Sauce. It's best eaten cold, with steaks, roasts or pasta, or as a salad or side dish.



Recipe

Beans
1 white onion diced
8 cloves garlic chopped finely
Tin of tomatoes
Parsley, basil, oregano, mixed herbs, salt & black pepper
dash of sugar

Top and tail beans and cut into two on the diagonal.
Fry garlic and onions in plenty of olive oil, but do not brown.
Add seasoning and herbs.
Add tin tomatoes (I used S & W chopped tomatoes with roasted garlic)
Add half a tin of water. Simmer gently.
When tomato sauce has reduced, add beans and cook till they are wilted and soft and sauce has thickened considerably.
Put into a dish with cover and refrigerate overnight.
Here it is - yummy!

Thursday, 14th September 2006 (DIET)

Day 3 - Thursday, 14th September

Breakfast - Salted Vegs Soup with Tomatoes, Beansprouts, Fish Fillets and a few strands of rice noodle
Lunch - The fruit/veg mix
After work - A handful of nuts, a few crisps, a small piece of fried fish fillet & 2 bites of curry puff, and a bottle of San Mig Lite
Dinner - A plate of stirfried spinach
Exercise - Nil

Day 4 - Friday, 15th September

Breakfast - Nil
Lunch - Bowl of Uncle Toby's High Fibre Cereal with Low Fat Milk & lots of papaya
Snack - Handful of Doritos Black Pepper Nachos
Dinner - Huge bowl of papaya
Exercise - Nil

Day 5 - Saturday, 16th September

Breakfast/Lunch - Portion of nasi lemak with chicken curry, half boiled egg, fried anchovies, sambal, peanuts, a piece of panfried salmon, 2 wedges of onion omelette. 2 huge bowls of mixed fruits (watermelon, honeydew, papaya and tin longans)
Dinner - Plate of stirfried vegs & some beans in tomato sauce
Exercise - Nil

To be continued....

Monday, 11th September 2006

Z asked me round as her mum was cooking mee siam. The opportunity to have Z's Mum's meesiam does not come round easily and I only get to eat it once or twice a year. Of course, I readily agreed. The second purpose was to view her loot from her recent trip to that city somewhere in Europe. When I arrived, I discovered that it was also a combined birthday party for her kids. Sorry, x & x, I did not bring pressies..

First the food:

The Mee Siam



Authentic mee siam. So so yummy. Fried meehoon with spices. The toppings : hardboiled eggs cut into wedges, fried tofu cubes, prawn sambal, garlic chives, and half limes. The gravy is served on the side and after you assemble the meesiam with the toppings, you drench gravy over it. It's slighty sweet, sour and very very sambley. I had two helpings.

(The mee siam was placed on the dessert table, but moved to the main dining area after these pics were taken - there was a massive selection of desserts; fruits, cheese platter, cendol, little fruit tarts and sweet pastry).

The Barbeque



There were prawns, lamb chops, beef patties, chicken wings and garlic beef sausages. I had 2 chicken wings and shared a beef pattie with Z. The wings were well marinated and I must get the recipe from K. The beef pattie was good too, juicy and very very beefy. There were burger buns, lettuce and tomatoes to make your own burger but I could not manage that.



The Main Courses

Nasi Minyak
Plain Rice
Ayam masak merah
Beancurd sticks and vermicelli with light coconut gravy
Sweet and sour fish



All the main courses were catered by a home cook and they were all delicious and very well prepared. I think you will agree with me when I say that you can taste and feel it if food has been prepared with care, attention and pride. Again, I had two big helpings.

I was trying to appear as inconspicuous as I could taking photographs of food when there were so many hungry people around me but I managed a few quick shots for the sake of my blog.

Close ups of the main courses.

The beancurd and the ayam masak merah.



The nasi minyak and sweet and sour fish.



Later, I sat down with S who was trying to encourage me to go back to that gym at the Mall. (He did not succeed). While we were talking, I had watermelon and honewdew melon, followed by a tub of cendol and some birthday cake. I left happily at 10.30 pm clutching on to a doggie bag of meesiam carefully packed by Z's mum.. THANK YOU, Auntie. (Wm had that as we all know now that I embarked on a diet the following day).

p.s The loot from that city was JAW DROPPINGLY GORGEOUS. I cooed and oohed and touched and felt and sniffed and sighed and admired and stroked each and every single item.... Even the ribbons, boxes, dustbags, camelias, receipts, guarantee cards, and the way they had folded and pleated the packing tissues did not escape my attention and were all lovingly admired and studied. sigh......

Thursday, 14th September 2006

Third day into my diet that has no name, this is lunch. I roughly chopped 1 cucumber (with skin), 2 tomatoes (also with skin), and 1 orange. Put everything into a blender, add half a cup of water and blitz for 1 minute or so until you get a rough mixture with a little bit of bite left. This recipe yielded 2.5 glasses of pulverized fruit/veg. And I only remembered to take a pic into my last glass.

Here it is. Enjoy.



Day 1 - Tuesday, 12th Sept
Breakfast - Watermelon
Lunch - Corn Soup and Diet Coke with J at Portview
Dinner - Big pot of green tea
Exercise - Nil

Day 2 - Weds, 13th Sept
Breakfast - Watermelon
Lunch - Nestum 3 in 1
Dinner - Plate of stirfried cauliflower with garlic and 3 drops of oil
Exercise - Power Yoga at Body Challenge

To be continued......

p.s. This was actually quite delicious.

Sunday, 10th September 2006

We had a nice quiet Sunday for a change. The children had spag bol again for dinner and I also made a beef tonic soup with Chinese herbs.

I minced a piece of rump steak finely, put the mince into a little ceramic Chinese tonic soup pot, added the herbs and a piece of dried scallop and a slice of ginger. 1.5 bowls of boiling water was placed into the soup pot and the lid put on. This was then placed into a large pot of boiling water and steamed for 2 hours. This is the result. A very light and clear soup full of goodness (imagined or otherwise).

Friday, 8th September 2006

Went to the club with S, J & Wm. This was what we had and, for once, I will offer no opinion or comment about the food but here they are:

This is a lamb curry puff pastry.



Seafood Vol-a-vents with creamy sauce.



Asparagus wrapped in smoked salmon with a thin yoghurt like sauce.



The wines were lovely anyway! (and of course, the 2 baskets of fries which I smothered with salt and dunked in mayo)..

We had a very nice evening; with lots of laughs, shared tales and opinions and handbags wish lists. Everyone admired my sky high straw wedge espadrilles. Here's S trying them on with rolled up jeans.

Saturday, 9th September 2006

We had sardine meehoon for dinner. It sounds horribly fishy but surprisingly, it's not. Just fry meehoon (soaked in cold water) with garlic, shallots, a large can of minced sardine, tomato sauce, oyster sauce, light soy, pepper and shredded carrots and cabbage. Top with egg omelette. Its yummy served with chilli oil. An easy, quick and simple, but delicious all in one meal.

Here it is:

Thursday, 7th September 2006

Mark & Hazel's dinner

Roast chicken with Caramelized Onion Gravy
(sorry, no pic of the gravy)




Creamy Mashed Buttery Potatoes



My dinner

Grilled Salmon Steak



Recipe

Wash and scale and pat dry salmon.
Make marinade : Sliced shallots and garlic, parsley, mixed herbs, salt & black pepper, squeeze of lime juice, dab of butter, olive oil
Spread marinade over fish
Put under hot grill for 7 to 8 minutes - do not turn.
Wait for it to cool slightly if you can bear it and eat!

If I may say so, it was quite good - the salmon was sweet and fresh, the topping had charred slightly and the dollop of mash went perfectly well with everything. Don't be alarmed by the oil, it was so light and flavourful, with a slight tartness, it was almost a sauce on its own. Perfect with some lightly toasted crusty bread..



p.s. I know, I know, what on earth am I doing serving and eating from a lid? hehe - I think it's hightime for some decent ovenproof dishes at the next sale.

Friday, 1st September 2006

Project Tealight Wall Display Thingy

Have been admiring this for the longest time at that place I visit with friends and I thought it is possible to make one, with a lot of help, of course.

Status: Phase 3



Phase 1 - Discuss with maker. Maker agrees on feasibility of project - complete.
Phase 2 - Source glass cups - complete.
Phase 3 - C to make the frame.
Phase 4 - C to install on suitable wall.
Phase 5 - Light up and admire.
Phase 6 - Post on blog.

Target date: 30th September 2006

Wednesday, 6th Sept 2006

Took a day leave from work, only to spend the entire day cleaning and clearing out my kitchen. Discovered several treasures which I bought ages ago but have forgotten about.

1. 1 choc fondue set
2. 1 set of 5 elegant and slim candlesticks in ascending/descending height
3. 1 chip and dip set with handpainted flowers
4. 1 Christmas theme chip and dip set
5. 1 silver cutlery set (6 setting) bought in 1996 (receipt intact)

Time for another dinner party? It's someone's 22nd wedding anniversary round the corner and someone's going to Melb in 10 days' time.

Tonight's dinner:

Chunky bolognese sauce (minced topside, garlic, onions, carrots, mushrooms, tomato sauce and concentrate, oregano, basil, parsley, bay leaves, salt & coarsely ground black pepper).



Kids' food



Garlic Bread (Wm, the kids would like you to make them some garlic butter, please, we used up the last bit tonight).



My dinner

Saturday, 2nd September 2006

Roast Lamb - Part II

The next day, we had leftovers with toasted garlic bread and mustard...


Have a bite.

Saturday, 2nd September 2006

I did not cook my lamb dinner last night as the kids were not very hungry (nor was I) so here it is, finally. The kids were ravenous after their 1.5 hr swimming lesson.

Step by step to roast leg of lamb

1. Buy meat (I tried to go to KL on Friday morning but saw the mile long queue and gave up, so I joined the enthusiastic crowd who turned up to witness the opening of a supermarket in Bengkurong). Their chilled meats looked clean and fresh and based on that, I decided to buy half a leg.

2. Defrost, wash, trim and dry meat.

3. Marinate with chopped garlic, rosemary, thyme, parsley, salt & pepper, olive oil and light soy sauce.




4. Marinate meat overnight in fridge and let it come to room temperature before roasting. Roast approx 1 hr + in a medium oven. ( Like I said, my oven temp gauge broke down ages ago, so its mostly guesswork and understanding of the volatile and cranky oven)..

5. Meat is done when juices run light pink when you insert a skewer into thickest part of meat.



6. Remove from roasting pan and rest the meat in a warm place for at least half an hour to 45 minutes.



7. Carve into thin slices.

8. Drain pan juices into a saucepan. Season if required. Add a tablespoon of bisto and some cream or milk. Add some lamb herbs and some mint sauce. Simmer till thickened.

6. Potatoes were seasoned with s & p, olive oil, butter, garlic and breadcrumbs. Roast till the sides are crunchy and slightly charred and you can hear them whistling in the oven.



7. Serve. Between the 3 of us, we ate almost all the potatoes.... I roasted some sweet potatoes as well but they didn't touch them. We had some boiled petit pois tossed in garlic butter too - no pic of this.

Saturday, 24th December 2005

My biggest turkey yet at 8 kgs - it was so heavy in the pan that I had to baste it on the floor throughout its roasting stage. I think there was general agreement that last year's was the best yet, the turkey was tender, juicy and moist, even the breast was tender enough to be eaten without gravy or cranberry sauce... The bones were turned into a delicious gamey turkey soup with whole white peppercorns, bay leaves and whole onions and chunky carrots.

Only an hour roasting time left. I removed the foil after this basting and allowed the skin to brown and the bacon to crisp.



Every year since 1999, we've had a homecooked turkey with all the trimmings at my place every Christmas. It is now a tradition to wear red or green during these dinners and every year it just gets bigger and bigger, more food, bigger turkey, more presents, more elaborate decor. I love Christmas and can't wait for December.



Hazel's place setting.



Here we all are except me.

Saturday, 24th December 2005

Christmas comes but once a year.

Here are my kids basting last year's Christmas turkey. Henri sent me the baster (from Lakeland) which looks like a giant syringe? It has a clear tempered glass tube with a big yellow plastic knob at the end. When you squeeze the knob (!), it draws up pan juices, position over the meat, squeeze again and there you go, easy basting.... This pic was taken when the turkey was ready and is now resting before being carved. The turkey took a whole hour to carve and I was helped by Mum who held up my hair and mopped my face with kitchen towels and Wm who fed me red wine.

It's not been a year since last Christmas but M & H have changed so much in looks, shape and personalities.



Taste test...

Friday, 4th August 2006

BREAD! I want bread. Here's a pic of garlic bread served at my last girls' night earlier this month.



Today, I found a supermarket who were willing to sell me half a leg of lamb!!! Tonight's dinner is roast leg of lamb, potatoes and peas...

Have a good weekend, y'all.