Yes, I do Asian foods

In case you were wondering, yes, I do cook Asian food.  :P  Above is my healthy take on claypot rice.  Verdict - too healthy.  Haha...there's something about claypot rice where the oil (lard at most times) just sings to your tastebuds. 

Anyway, my claypot rice is a simple one-pot affair of rice, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, chopped french beans, shitake mushrooms (make sure it's rehydrated) and tuna. I just dumped everything into the rice cooker and let it do it's job. 

Prep time: 5 min
Cooking time: 15 min (or more...if you're cooking for more people)

Let me now tell you the unhealthy but still quick version.  Into your rice goes large chunks of chicken (you can choose to pre-marinate them in dark soy sauce), dark & light soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, a small sliver of salted fish, mushrooms and sliced lap cheong (Chinese sausage)! Again, dump everything into the rice cooker and once it's cooked, it's claypot rice without the hassle of cleaning up burnt rice bits from the claypot!! Oh, you can add in veg into the claypot too.  We all must load up on fibre. ;)

Quick Dinner

I think I'm the most chop-chop cook ever.  I'm very lazy and I hate washing up a lot of stuff so I tend to cook everything in a pot/pan/tray.  This meal was eaten last Fri and it was another surprisingly quick meal although it's 2 dishes.

Top photo is my bacon wrapped tuna.  Can you tell the difference between bacon and tuna? No, right? My tuna was cooked to perfection!  This is sooo easy, it's really quite disgusting.  Haha...all you have to do is wrap your tuna with bacon and pop it into the toaster oven for 10-14 min, depending on the thickness of the tuna.  I didn't even thaw the tuna steak!!

The bottom is is my gratin with broccoli and bacon (yes, I try to finish all the stuff that I buy...).  Again, very simple.  Slice your potato thinly with one of those slicing machine thing-a-ma-jigs. Chop bacon roughly and cut broccoli till they're about 1.5cm long.  In other words, all your fillings have to be small.  Here comes the layering. Layer the bottom with potato, then broccoli and bacon, top with a little cheese (I used the remainder of my red & white cheddar but you can use mozzarella) and then layer with potato, broccoli...uh, you get the pic?  When you're at the final layer (I prefer it to be potato so that my broccoli doesn't get burnt/ dried out), pour some cream until you see it surface to the top when you gently press the whole gratin.  DO NOT use milk.  I repeat.  DO NOT use milk.  Milk is too sweet and watery.  If you use milk, only the bottom layer of potato and broc will be cooked and the top will be a big uh-oh.  Anyway, top it all off with a generous amount of cheese and then pop it into a preheated oven of 150 deg C for 15 min.

Total prep time:  15 min
Cooking time:  15 min

This is definitely more satisfying that making yourself a ham & cheese sandwich. ;)

An Eventful Evening

Last night, Mel Li and I decided to participate in Lovestruck's (an online dating agency) singles' event at District 10, UE Square.  The whole idea to this event was a bit like guerrilla dating where you participate by ordering drinks and asking the wait staff for a red straw.  So...you chat up anyone who has a red straw.  Sounds interesting?  That's what I thought so too...hence our enthusiasm in turning up for the event. 

Feeling pretty upbeat and hungry, we quickly ordered our dinner and drinks at 7.45pm.  Below is my dinner of wagyu meatballs with fries.

Now, let me wax lyrical about these delectable spheres of wagyu that were drenched in a delightful creamy sauce.  The sauce was unbelievably delicious!!  The secret is either mustard or horseradish  but it was very well done because any more of that stuff and I'd have a gagging effect.  Yes, I react THAT badly to horseradish/ wasabi and any mustard that tastes like those 2 offensive foods. 

The turning point of our evening came when those said meatballs were eaten.  Now...where were our drinks?  We asked 3 different waiters/ waitresses about our drinks.  After asking the 3rd one, she turned up at our table with a glass of Caribbean Breeze which we had cancelled and replaced with an 'Extreme Mojito' immediately after our 1st order.

8.45pm.  Still no sign of the 'Extreme Mojito' nor my Lychee Mojito.  Where have our mojitos gone to?  Ugh.  Parched.  Fries were left half eaten as we were not even given water.  Forget about even trying to participate in the event since we had no drinks and hence, no straws.  -_-  Couldn't take it anymore, so I went up to the bar and spoke to whom I think is the bar manager.  At 8.50pm, the waitress who had earlier arrived with the wrong drink, came up to us and said, "Your drinks are not here yet because nobody had input them into the system. They'll be here soon."  Seriously. I don't give a flying rat's ass if its your colleague's fault if he didn't put it into the system the first time.  What about the 2nd and 3rd time that we asked about our drinks?  I even mentioned the drinks' names ALL 3 times.  Instead of being apologetic, you give me an excuse. 

8.55pm.  Drinks finally arrive.  Ok...the lychee mojito was good enough to garner another one but no way would I want to order another one simply because, I didn't want to be there till 11pm.

9pm. Spoke to a waiter and asked to see the manager.  That caused him to panic a little and when he heard how upset we were with the lack of service AND that we had to wait for an hour for our drinks, he was immediately apologetic.  We told him then that there was no way that we were going to pay the service charge.  He came back a minute later, saying that he has already spoken to the manager and the manager will attend to us shortly.

How long does it take for a restaurant manager to arrive?  Apparently, more than 20 minutes.  At 9.20pm, we saw no sign of the manager and we were really tempted to just walk out.  Mel Li went up to another waiter and told him that we wanted our bill, was very upset that we had waited 20 min for the manager who didn't show up and stressed that we were not going to pay the service charge.  That waiter did come with our bill quite quickly and apologised saying that it was the 1st time in District 10's history where they had sooo many customers, which was why it seemed like they were understaffed.

I did a quick look-see of heads vs seats.  They were about the same.  If you HAVE a certain number of seats, you ought to have enough staff to handle all of them at the same time.  If clubs are able to attend to MORE customers efficiently, why couldn't District 10 do so when they call themselves a bar restaurant?  If you know that you're understaffed, why did you agree to be the event venue? Sheesh.  Anyway, due to some stupid system issue, we were given a 10% discount but was charged service charge.  The waiter pointed out that we 'saved' in this manner.  Uh huh...by 20c.

As we walked out of the bar/restaurant, yet another memory was etched into our minds.  This was really a LOL moment.  We were 'ambushed' at the exit by this guy who said to Mel Li, "Do you know my friend Lionel?" (pick up line from 'How I Met Your Mother').  At this moment, Lionel was talking to another guy friend and looked quite shocked when the ambusher delivered that pick up line.  "Uh...hi....bye," went Mel Li and I.  OMG. That was NOT well done!!! Not well executed.

This is how the pick up line is supposed to work.  Guy A sees girl and likes girl.  Guy A gets his wingman to use that pick up line on the girl.  In the case above, it's more like the 'wingman' saw Mel Li and wanted to get to know Mel Li better.  Uh...use a different line dude. 

Anyway, that's how my event went from yay to nay in 2 hours.  :P

Meat & Potatoes Kinda Girl

Yup, I can be a meat and potatoes kinda girl too.  Now, I got lazy this time round and decided to just roast everything in the oven.  Note to self - beef tastes good only when it's grilled or pan seared.  My beef was cooked perfectly medium but...the flavours aren't sealed in.  Hence, grill or pan fry it.

My roasted potatoes with rosemary and cheese rocked though!  The roasted cherry tomatoes were oh sooo sweet while the french beans were well...french beans. 

Told you I got lazy right?  So I microwaved the potatoes in a bowl of water for 4 minutes till they were soft.  Dice them and then toss it with rosemary (I used dried but feel free to use fresh ones, if you have).  The heat from the potatoes should start the process of softening the rosemary and releasing its distinct flavour.

On my roasting tray, I simply placed my french beans, tomatoes, potatoes and beef.  I drizzled olive oil, pepper and truffle salt all over the veg and potatoes.  In addition, I topped the potatoes with red & white cheddar.  You can use mozzarella but I was trying to finish my packet of cheese. 

This is how lazy it really got.  My beef wasn't fully thawed so this was perfect to roast for 5 min without it drying out or over cooking.  After 3 min, I merely turned the beef over so that the underside could get a bit browned.  If you're grilling/ pan frying, the meat should be fully thawed and 1 min per side is good enough.

Prep time: 2 min
Cooking time: 10 min

Pan Seared Tuna with Spaghetti

Yet another day in chef mode!  This time round, it's pan-seared tuna with spaghetti done primavera style.  If you notice, I pan-seared the tuna such that it's still pink in the middle.  That's how I like my tuna...and not the crap that comes in cans.

While I was chopping up my garlic, bacon and french beans, I started boiling water to cook my spaghetti.  My favourite brand of spaghetti is Barilla.  I think it's the best and I like to use their No. 5 or No. 7 as I prefer that sort of thickness.  I used No. 5 this time and cooked it for 8 minutes to that it's al dente.

Tuna - not much needs to be done except to season it with a little salt and pepper before searing it on a very hot grill/ frying pan.  The time to pan sear it really depends on the thickness of your tuna steak.  For me, the best way to check is just to visually look at how cooked it is from the side.  Normally, you'll turn a piece of fish/ meat over once you see that it's cooked halfway through.  In this instance, I let it get cooked only one-third of the way before I flipped it to the other side.  Once the other side is done another third, take it out and set aside.

To same pan, I add olive oil and start to brown the garlic.  After which, I added the bacon and finally the french beans.  To deglaze any tuna bits (the parts that kinda stuck to the pan), I used vodka.  Feel free to use white wine or just water.  The alcohol will burn off at that heat anyway.  Once the whole mixture simmers, I just toss in the spaghetti and then plate it.  Again, no need for salt because the bacon is salty enough.

Slice the tuna and then serve on top of the spaghetti.  Believe me when I say that this meal is simple and delicious!!

Prep time:  5 min
Cooking time:  15 min

Stir fried Prawns, Broccoli and Cherry Tomatoes

I've been so sick of eating food cooked outside that I decided to do a little cooking of my own. It's also part of me celebrating the fact that I can eat prawns (shellfish in general) now!!!  So, above is a relatively healthy meal of stir fried prawns with bacon, broccoli and cherry tomatoes on a bed of garlic mash and topped with red & white cheddar.

My cooking is really simple - I first boiled the potatoes (2 in this case) with a little salt and when it was soft enough to mash, I simply drained the water and started mashing it in the saucepan.  To that, I added a dash of truffle salt, butter and garlic powder.  If you have, add in some milk/ cream.  This will really boost the flavours and make it smoother as well as moist.

While my mash was being done, I heated a frying pan and melted some butter (I was trying to use up my butter) to which I then added minced garlic (mm...don't you love the smell of frying garlic?) and then proceeded to stir fry the broccoli and the bacon.  Finally, I tossed in the prawns and the cherry tomatoes.  DO NOT add salt.  The bacon is salty enough to flavour it all.  Lightly bruise some of the tomatoes to get the juices out and this will be your sauce.  If you really like a lot of gravy...I think you can improvise accordingly. :P

Prep time: 15 min
Cooking time:  30 min (it takes about 10-15 min for the potatoes to be fully cooked.  4 min if you're using the microwave)

Sick...again

Ugh...down with a stomach flu and had a high fever of 38.7 deg C this morning.  Sucks sooo bad to be sick. 

The symptoms started yesterday when I kept going to the loo and was passing out soft stool.  At about 5pm, I started having headaches and felt a bit giddy on the way home.  I thought it was just another day of staring at the computer screen for too long.  However, at about 8pm, I felt really ill and when I took my temperature, I found out that I was having a mild fever of 37.5 deg C.  Cue the panadol and sleep.  But even sleep was evasive as I kept shivering as my hands and feet were cold but the rest of my body was burning up.  The muscle aches were soo bad that it wasn't funny.  My joints ached and I had spasms of pain from my intestines.  Such joy.  I couldn't take it anymore at about 4am and took muscle relaxant to help me catch some sleep.

Anyway, went to see the doc and was given stronger fever meds and some pills to ease the churning.  My fever has subsided but my stomach is still churning every minute or so.  :( Ah well...if I do feel fine tomorrow, I might just head back to the office. 

*sigh* My diet just got more restricted.  No dairy products, no oily and spicy foods...all these together with no shell fish and anchovies (ikan bilis)...*sigh*  Hello bread and porridge!!

Nails for the week - 29 Apr 2012

Decided again to go for something pretty but yet simple.  This was a done in the graduation style with light pink (choose any shade you like) as well as glitter. Like??