Homemade burgers

Made chicken burgers for dinner last evening. For the patty, I used the following -

Minced chicken - approximately 500g
barbeque sauce
worcestershire sauce
bit of oyster sauce
dash of sesame oil
breadcrumbs - 2-3tbsps
1/2 an onion - diced
1/2 a carrot - shredded
Extra breadcrumbs for coating

Mix the above together and form into patties. Cover with breadcrumbs and fry. The above recipe yielded 5 big patties and 1 small.

Assembled the burger with cheese slice, lettuce, tomato slices, onion rings, egg, and drizzled with mayonnaise.

Happy to say that it was very well-received, even by princess who isn't typically a burger gal. :) But of course hers was only a mini version without an egg. And since I had extra patties leftover, I made them for a friend who was coming by.

Roast Beef

Made a roast beef and roasted potatoes, accompanied by an avocado salad with the veg I had in fridge. Bought the purple cabbage some time back but didn't have a chance to use it. It has remained fresh though. Have been wanting to try making an avocado salad since seeing this n this lady(ies) make them. I totally love it. The sesame oil and seeds go so well together with the olive oil, lime, and some black pepper.

Tagged - 5 facts about me

I have been tagged once again by play-play in the kitchen & Do What I Like (Florence). I have to list 5 facts about myself and then pass on the tag to 5 others.

5 facts about me:

1) I am a serious procrastinator. I won't get things done till the last minute when there's hardly any time left.

2) I hate to use makeup unless absolutely necessary.

3) I hate to clean the house if I don't have to.

4) I do love cooking, baking, washing dishes & doing laundry.

5) I was a neat freak but due to circumstances now (with a kid), I have slackened.

I would like to pass this tag on the the following -

1. More than words
2. Jottings of life
3. East Meets West
4. Karlsfoodie
5. Beachlover

Tagged - Before I was a mum

I got tagged by East Meets West Kitchen quite some time ago. Sorry it took so long. Well, here it goes.

This is what she wrote:
The rule to the e-mail is that, once you have been hit, you have to hit 5 pretty Moms, including the one who thought of you today & sent it to you. The idea is that if you get hit again, you will know you are really pretty!

So I thought lets just turn this into a tag instead. But that “hit” part won’t work very well in a tag. So instead of giving a “hit” to the one who tag you, you add your name at the bottom of the tagged persons list, and without bumping the person at the top or bumping anyone off and let the list grow. Hit 5 pretty mums on your list to let them know they are pretty!

So, I guess it's what you'd like to share about how life was before you became a mum. I just did the same amount on the list as her. Have fun ladies!

Before I was a mum;
I didn't have to compromise on sleep.

Before I was a mum;
I couldn't wait to be one.

Before I was a mum;
I travelled quite a bit.

Before I was a mum;
I didn't know what it was like to love unconditionally.

Before I was a mum;
I didn't cook as much as I do now.

Before I was a mum,
I was less messy as far as the house was concerned.

The first chain of tag:
1. Lovelymummy
2. Pek Imm
3. Momisodes
4. Ling that’s me
5. Janicepa
6. AnnieQ
7. Allthingspurple
8. Montessorimum
9. clumsy mommy
10. Sandra
11. KittyCat
12. VivianZ
13. Sweetpea
14. Sasha
15. Giddy Tiger
16. Wen
17. Jo-N
18. Janice Ng
19. BlurTing
19. ViEmwk
20. Singairishgirl

I would like to tag the following pretty moms :

1. The Singapore Housewife
2. Oh for the love of food!
3. Do What I Like - Florence
4. Hut of Cranberry
5. Miz Young's space

Chap Gor Mi or Yuan Xiao Jie

Thursday was the last or 15th day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. How fast times flies. First we were all busy baking, cooking, feasting and in just a blink of an eye, it's gone. Till next year rolls along. I feel so free and light since all festivities have come to a standstill for me, and also having stopped all enrichment classes in preparation for the ballet exams in approximately 2-1/2 weeks' time. Yikes! Shudder!

Before long, it'll be time for the Primary One Registration. Thank goodness that one is not a headache.

For sis - we had dinner in KB and this is what pa cooked up. This fish has C's (LCOM) name on it. Hahaha!

Prawns in black sauce. Hey sis, notice he didn't peel them for us? You are the special one.

There's another dish of chicken, from the nasi padang stall, which he bought for your (sis') birthday dinner so I won't show it again here.

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Princess and I had dinner at Swensen's last evening and this is what she ordered. Ham & cheese burgers with alphabet hash browns and corn. She polished off everything on the plate. The burgers were tiny and for an adult, maybe gone in 2-3 bites. Haha. I got the kitchen to not grill the buns as they usually do. I don't like all the grease on them so they baked them instead, which is a much healthier choice.

I wasn't impressed with my dinner which was some grilled fish with yellow rice and raisins so I didn't bother even taking a photo of it. :P

Do most people celebrate the end of CNY? I know not many people do.

Some food I made

Made fried wantons last night & an omelette with fish paste and spring onions. I love this omelette. It was something I discovered when we went to one of Princess' friend's house for a playdate and this was one of the dishes served. Not sure if I have blogged about it before, though. I mean, I'm not surprised as my dishes are always very predictable and same old, same old. So the truth is out. I'm a very boring cook who serves the same kind of food week in week out. Hehe. However, this fried wanton is not something I dish out very often. It does seem that I have been deep frying too much foodstuff! It's time to s-t-o-p! For the fish paste, you can buy it at the yong tau fu stall and beat it in with the egg. There is no need for salt, maybe just some white pepper. I added in the spring onions to give it a bit more flavour.

With the same minced meat, I added prawns, minus the water chestnuts and set aside some to make siew mai today. Unfortunately, they were edible but not presentable. They sort of fell apart when I was trying to take them out after steaming, so failure there. I wonder how little corner of mine makes it look so easy and beautiful. ;)

Made these crepes today just to have, not for tea or anything but just to fatten ourselves up, not that we are not fat enough. It's not funny how little princess' belly sticks out in ballet class and just 3 weeks' ago, the teacher had just commented that she had lost some weight. Must start watching what she eats now. Hehe. Maybe too much home cooking. ;)

The chocolate is way too messy and not artistically presented. But we're not complaining once it is yummy. :P

Another passing

It is so sad to hear that Lydia Sum has passed away. Two legends in less than 2 weeks. Who can forget Lydia, whom most of us grew up watching, way back when Hong Kong serials were very popular and were being broadcast here in Singapore. I have a photo taken with her and some TVB actors and actresses, including her ex-husband, Adam Cheng, when I visited Hong Kong with mum when I was 11. It was at some shop opening I believe. Of course during the entire trip, I was glued to the tv, stuffing myself with all the serials I could lap up. And the highlight of the trip, was to meet the stars in person. :)

I believe many people will mourn her passing, and I do feel so so sorry for her girl, Joyce, to have her lovely mum taken from her at such a young age. But she brought us so much joy with her witty ways, and that big hair of hers, which is her trademark.

It was only 3 years ago that she was in our living rooms bringing us laughter on 'Living with Lydia', and who would have thought that she'd be gone now. She looked healthy and well. But I guess the fight against cancer is an uphill task. It is also sad to see how she had withered in the past year to half her size. But I believe she must be in a happier place now, not having to suffer anymore.

May she rest in peace.

Dinner, etc

My offering for dinner this evening... finally tried the deep fried prawns in the netted wrap as recommended by Jo. It was lovely and tasty, and best of all, so easy to do. I just seasoned the prawns with a light sprinkling of salt and black pepper before frying. It is served with Thai sweet chilli sauce. Unfortunately I couldn't get the mango to go with it. Hope I spy some mangoes in the supermarket soon. It'll make this dish splendid! I loved it, since I love prawns and anything to do with them. The black dish in the foreground is fish flakes. I remember when I was young, my Ah Ma used to take the flesh off fried fish which we didn't finish the night before, flaked them, and stir fried with black sauce and some sugar. What I used was fresh fish though. Princess is not into fish. She refuses to eat them now, so I either force her to (in the case of cod), or else I 'camouflage' it this way. ;)

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A Princess Party

We were invited to little Princess Anna's party yesterday. She turned 3. Can't believe that her mum and I have known each other since we were 7. Wow, sure is amazing considering how we lost contact for a couple of years. I treasure old friendships from way back when...

The kids had a great time. There was the magician from one of our previous birthday parties (couldn't believe that he still remembers my girl by name!) and also the tattoo artist from our last birthday party. I even managed to get a flower drawn on one arm. :)

There was a good mix of spicy as well as non-spicy food. Needless to say, I veered towards all the curry and chilli. :) The fish was very very good. I'm so in love with it, although I doubt I can re-create it. The hosts had catered the buffet from a Nonya restaurant called Baba King.

Anna's mum gave me this gift from Hokkaido which her lovely hubby picked up specially on his recent trip to Japan. She said it was very good and I totally agree with her. It's sort of like rice krispies coated in chocolate but a hundred times better. Very light and tasty as the wrapper proclaims it to be. Look out for it next time you are in Japan. You won't be disappointed.

Nice Matters Award

Thanks little corner of mine for another award. I love the look of this one and have been eyeing it. It's so girly and sweet. Sorry for taking such a long time accepting it. ;) Accepting it is one thing. Having to think of who to pass on to is another and that was what the delay was all about. Well, I finally have time to sit down today and do my list.

I would love to pass this award to the following -

1. The artist princess
2. Singapore Housewife
3. Daphne
4. Hut of Cranberry
5. Ohfortheloveoffood!
6. A teaspoon and a pinch
7. The passionate baker

My second award is from The Singapore Housewife

I totally agree with her 'peace above love', but then again you have to love in order to find peace. If everyone can 'love thy neighbour as thyself' ( Leviticus 19:18) as the scripture says, there will not be wars in the world.

I, in turn, would like to pass the peace around to the following -

1. The artist princess
2. Hut of Cranberry
3. Little Corner of Mine
4. East Meets West Kitchen
5. Big Boys Oven
6. Beachlover's Kitchen
7. East Meets West
8. Lekker!
9. Elements
10. Karlsfoodie

Icekimo

What a cute name for an ice-cream parlour. We were introduced to this homemade ice-cream place by WL & LW, whom we were visiting for Chinese New Year. After a sumptious chicken rice meal which also included some lovely side dishes such as fried bean sprouts, Hainanese pork chop, egg Fu Yong, (I don't have any photos of the food), we were treated to ice-cream. There were lots of interesting flavours and it was tough making a choice. There were pineapple tarts, apple pie, milo dino, durian etc. Being greedy and oh-so-tempted, I went for a scoop each of horlicks as well as chempedak. I totally loved the horlicks and chempedak was so-so. However, halfway through the ice-cream, I kind of regretted getting two scoops as each scoop is quite big. Prices start at a reasonable $2.80 and toppings are 50cents each. Hubby had the brownie with Belgian chocolate, and princess had cookies and cream when her first choice of cookies and chocolate was not available. If you are ever in the vicinity, do give it a try.

Icekimo
8 Sin Ming Road
#01-03
Sin Ming Centre
Opening hours: 11:00am to 11:00pm daily.

Wee Nam Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice & Restaurant
275 Thomson Road
#01-05, Novena Ville
Singapore 307645
Tel: (65) 6255 6396

Shokudo

Mum discovered this new restaurant in the basement of Raffles City. It's a Japanese version of Marche. She was very excited about it when she saw this place last week and couldn't resist going in to check it out. She loved their steak which she felt was very well done. That is after having visited Delifrance the week before and being thoroughly disappointed in their so-called 'steak' which tasted like rubber even though having ordered a medium-rare. However, we didn't order the steak last evening.

Just like Marche, we were issued a card each, as well as a little sign saying the table was 'reserved'.

I wanted to try the salmon bamboo rice (which was a disappointment as it was way too bland). Other than the salmon and a few miserable pieces of mushrooms, there wasn't any taste to it. Princess had a chicken and asparagus spaghetti in tomato cream sauce. She didn't enjoy it much and I tried a piece of chicken which didn't taste too cooked. Mum got some skewered stuff and those were nice. There were mushrooms, prawns, beef, salmon, and bacon with asparagus.

We also had gyoza as well as both waffle and a crepe to share amongst us. The waffle was so-so but the crepe was really nice. It had a nice crunch to it and not soft like Marche's when it cools down. Basically this dessert is very similar to what you get at Marche, with caramel bananas as a topping, or ice-cream.

Mum tried the garlic rice and she said it was nice. There's also a play area for the kids to be entertained while you eat in peace. It's very basic but it keeps them happy enough. However, one drawback is that the place is not very clean. Although it was pretty empty when we were there, we found biscuits, crumbs, and spilled coffee on the flooring. There were dirty tissues with foodstuff on some other table which weren't cleared and service is practically non-existent even though they slap a service fee on the total bill. Nobody cleared our dishes as we emptied them and I had to move them elsewhere in order to clear more space on the table.

All in, it was an ok experience. I would go back for the crepes. I would try some other 'safe' food the next time. Sometimes it doesn't pay to be adventurous.

A surprise valentine

I was all ready to go shopping this afternoon, but got a call from hubs after lunch. I had mentioned yesterday that we should maybe visit the mini golf castle today and if he would be able to get half a day off work. He said he was too busy. So it was a surprise when he called to ask if the place was open and that if we wanted to go. I had wanted to book this place for princess' birthday party last month but unfortunately they had just re-opened after a long renovation process and were all booked out in January for corporate parties. So we finally went today. It's great to visit on weekdays as it was practically empty, just another couple, and us. The themes of each individual hole is a replica of popular tourist attractions in Singapore. See if you recognize them.

We love the food centres' replica which was really cute, with hawker stalls and the different types of food they sell. There was even a plate of chicken rice, and chilli crabs.

There's the merlion, Sentosa, the cable cars, boat quay.

This is the look of one after a 18-hole game. Not tired, but upset as she couldn't go another round. It takes approximately an hour to complete the entire game.

My initial plan was to go to Waraku, but we saw Sushi Tei when we arrived and it looked pretty quiet. I guess the Valentine crowd doesn't come till later. Hehe.

This is what I am bad with... the names of the dishes. The beef with golden mushrooms was lovely. Teapot soup was shared by princess and me, and it was nice.

There were scallops which were real tiny and the size in the picture is very much magnified. Hubs had curry rice and for dessert, there were frozen strawberry ice-cream and matcha ice-cream. Overall, the food was good but I wish the company was more open to trying new things and sharing food. There's only so much I can eat by myself. If only mum was there. She'd be more fun to eat with. But despair not... I'll be meeting mum for another Jap dinner tomorrow. Yippee!

The little satisfied customer says it all.

However, both hubs and I felt that the service staff weren't attentive. Most times we're waving and not getting served. And it wasn't even peak hours.

Lilliputt Golf
902 East Coast Parkway
Block B #03-05
Playground @ Big Splash
Singapore 449874
Telephone: 6348 9606
Fax: 6348 7637
Email: info@lilliputt.co

Charges -

Adults $18.00
Students $15.00
Children (from 5 to12 years old) $12.00
Family (2 Adults & 2 Children) $54.00

Happy Valentine's Day

Going Italian

For the Irishman, I made a Western dinner tonight to celebrate his special day. Been meaning to use the white sauce which I brought back from Ireland but it expired two months ago. Boohoo! This is what happens when you have stuff which you keep in the pantry and hope for some special day to use them, and not bothering to check when they expire. Sigh. However, I managed to get a substitute for it. I wonder why they do not sell white sauce here in Singapore. Maybe lasagna is not that popular a dish to cook? Anyway, it's been ages since I made the dish...

I wouldn't dare call these bruschetta as they aren't really. Other than the topping that looks authentic enough, the type of bread used, and the spread, weren't. I found a tub of Boursin herb spread (I had bought the wrong thing at Christmas, meaning to buy the cheese instead), and used that as a spread over the focaccia which I then baked and topped with my seasoned tomatoes. Tomatoes were cut into small pieces and drizzled with good olive oil, seasoned with sea salt, black pepper, and some dried herbs.

For the second lot of focaccia topping, I sliced thinly portobello & brown button mushrooms and saute them in olive oil and garlic till soft. I then placed them on the bread with some mozarella cheese and put to bake. It was so yummy. That was my favourite of the three items.

Xia Jiang Ji

Choo, I finally tried the recipe. I added some sesame seeds to batter too and it gave it some fragrance. However, I wasn't too keen on the smell when the bottle containing the shrimp paste was first opened. The pungent smell just hits you. If anyone thinks durian is bad, you should try smelling this. :D I was keeping my fingers crossed that it will turn out well as I had already marinated the lot, or else we'd have no dinner. Eeeks! However, upon frying, the flavours just fused together - sugar, sesame oil, etc.. And hubby loved it. Princess had no complaints so she must like it and I think it was lovely too.

I also steamed a piece of cod and stir-fried some vegetables. That was our meal last evening. :)

Interesting Food Facts

Thought you'd all be interested in this.

You are what you eat, so eat well. A stupendous insight of civilizations past has now been confirmed by today's investigative, nutritional sciences. They have shown that what was once called "The DoctriNE of Signatures" was astoundingly correct. It now contends that every whole food has a pattern that resembles a body organ or physiological function and that this pattern acts as a signal or sign as to the benefit the food provides the eater. Here is just a short list of examples of Whole Food Signatures.

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and YES science now shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron! -transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Eggplant, Avocados and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? .... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility, and guess what they resemble?.

! Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries

Grapefruits, Oranges, and Other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes