Paint-It-Yourself (PIY)

Painting and drawing have never been my strength but I love colors so much that I thought perhaps one day I could learn how to paint and draw. I came across this PIY when I was shopping at Parkson One Utama. Saw this girl sitting there painting with so much concentration. From far the painting looks so real. I thought " Wow, that's so mesmerizing! But I'll not be able to do that! " Wanted to walk away but felt I should go over at least to admire the painting.

I walked over and she greeted me and told me that it's actually a very simple thing to do. All you need to do is follow the numbers and paint accordingly. I thought to myself, "That should be easy! I love coloring so this can't be hard!" So I bought one home to try out.

It took me 5 days to complete this 30x30cm floral painting. Very careful and was a first timer, so every single stroke was done with so much of concentration. :) Very beautiful piece because I love pastel colors. Decided to start with the green.
A close up to show the outline of the art. The stems were so difficult. Should have done the stems last. But it's okay. Learnt from the mistake. The next round I should study the outline first and plan my strategy. Haha...
Clouds and dragon-fly entering the picture.
Here comes the pink flowers. :)
It was relatively small brushes that were given. The tip of the brush is so tiny. It takes ages to complete the clouds. But one thing good about them is you can get very nice straight lines.

Let me tell you about the colors. They are all ready to paint colors. Unlike those we used in our school days that we need to add water and mix. They are all very consistent and easy to paint. If you have mistakes, just correct by painting an extra layer on it. It works well with ''out of the line''.
It's done. :)A close up on the flowers. Lovely isn't it?It's something that you could also do with your loved ones or even little children. They have smaller frames size too. I saw the Winnie the Pooh ones, it's so cute! Give it a try you will love it. May get so into it as well. It can be one of your paintings in the house that you can proudly say '' Yeah, not a good artist but I painted it myself - Thanks to PIY with numbers. ''

Cod Fish Asparagus Risotto

Ever since our trip to Italy, I've been wanting to try to make risotto. Italian rice. Not the white rice we all have. But rice that has flavour. Not porridge either. But rice that has starch I would say. With cheese of course. Apparently every Italian home would have at least a few cheese stored in their fridge. Mozzarella and parmesan are the basic cheese just like how we like to store cheddar cheese in ours to eat with bread for breakfast. Italian has pizzas and pastas most of the time. Everyone knows that without the right amount of cheese in your food, you can't feel Italian. Haha... and during the 2 weeks stay, we had A LOT of cheese.

So very simple to make this. In the supermarket you can buy a packet of risotto rice with flavour. I chose the Asparagus Risotto. Then I thought of putting a cod fish in it which reminds me of the seafood risotto I had in Burano Island in Venice.

The cooking time is stated on the packet. Just follow strictly to the instructions and you will not go wrong. I add in the pan fried cod fish into the risotto when it's boiled. Just to make sure that it does not stick, do not leave it boiling for a long time. Keep stirring gently. I mean gently, or else you will not see your cod fish when it's done. I'm gentle enough but the fish still breaks. Haha..

Good Luck!

And yes, parmesan. Generously. Do not be stingy to what you are eating and enjoy~~

Crispy Bacon Chicken

I sort of learnt this from Jamie Oliver, his podcast Jamie's Ministry of Food. It's pretty easy to do. Simple ingredients. Good tips. No regret downloading the video. He says pass it on. :)

Ingredients:

- Chicken fillet

- Bacon ( recipe calls for parma ham but it's too expensive here )

- Black pepper, pepper, salt to taste

- Thyme or rosemary

- Parmesan cheese grated

- Lemon

- Lettuce, tomato for salad

Step 1

You need to get the chicken lay flat on a sheet of plastic and get it flatten out the middle evenly to the thickness of the side of the fillet. He says use a roller. Yes, the pastry roller. Then you can season the top with ground black pepper, white pepper, a pinch of salt, the herbs. Get a bit of lemon juice. A bit of lemon zest as well. Grate parmesan cheese generously. Top it with the bacons or parma ham.

Step 2

Get ready a skillet or pan with olive oil on medium heat. Transfer the chicken fillet to the pan with the bacon face down. When it's slightly brown and crispy you can turn the fillet over and cook the other side. Each side takes about few minutes depending on the size of the fillet. You need to observe yourself. But be careful do not overcook them because you would wanna remain the juiciness of the chicken.

Step 3

Get ready the lettuce and tomatoes. Season with anything you like for your salad. Lemon juice is essential together with olive oil. Grate parmesan too. A boiled egg also adds an extra colour to the presentation.

Step 4

The chicken should be cooked by now. Serve. And grate more parmesan if you like more cheesy flavour. It gives great presentation too. Remember that good looking food equals great appetite. It does taste good too! :)

Another way to make this is with bread. I bought a lovely loaf of Massimo Bread. My sides were sauteed yellow onion and green bell pepper (capsicum) with mashed potato.

3 different ways with one simple recipe. Give it a try! Enjoy~~

Watercress Soup

It took me twice to boil this soup. First time was a total disaster. The soup tasted bitter! Yes, I'm not joking it was totally an epic failure. After many tips and advices my friends given me, I'd finally able to boil just a perfect Watercress Soup. The trick was hot boiling water. Unlike other soups that we can just place everything in the pot with cold water. Watercress is bitter by nature. It has to be cooked in a boiling water and not cold water. And yes, it worked. Thanks to my lovely friends. Jen, Angela, Tsu Hui etc....

Not much steps need to be done. Just like any other recipes, you prepare your meat or bones, wash the watercress generously, red dates etc. But the trick is, PLEASE BOIL THE WATER FIRST! That is very IMPORTANT. Then you put in the vege.

Step 1

Put water to boil. Put in the meat and the red dates.

Step 2

Bring to boil again. Then add in the vege. Close lid and on high fire boil for 1 hour. Then low fire for another hour.

Step 3

Serve while it's hot. Goes perfectly with a bowl of fragant rice. Bliss~~

Comfort food my style - Noodle with Yong Tau Fu Pok

On a cold day a bowl of noodle soup best comforts my stomach. Any style of hot noodles will be my first choice. Over the years I've been cooking a lot and back to back some same recipes with a slight variation. My fridge has always been a ready storage for minced meat, cabbages and eggs.

This is rather a simple yet nourishing bowl of noodle. In most days when I have not enough time, minced meat soup would be the easiest. Method is the same but cooking time may be a little longer for Taufu Pok noodle. If you have read my previous post http://yummyfoodwelove.blogspot.com/2009/08/yong-tau-fu-pok.html , this noodle recipe is very similar. All you need to do is pop in a noodle (Vits or beehoon) when the soup boils to just the right amount per person. 2 bowls for 2, 1 bowl of soup for 1 if you know what I mean. Just like how you cook your instant noodle. This comes from experience after so many times of cooking soup noodle. You have to judge for yourself the pot you are using. When it's drying up just about the right amount of soup you have to add in the noodles.

Ginger egg soup

Want to have some hot soup but not enough time to cook? Here's an idea. I love ginger so much and it's such a warm in the tummy and reminds me of my childhood days. My mum always cooked this for us. To warm our body on rainy days.

Ingredients:

- ginger chopped

- 2 eggs beaten (well seasoned with white pepper and salt or soy sauce)

- minced meat

- 2 bowls of water

Step 1

Heat up your wok with some oil just not too much. Fry the ginger until fragant but not turned brown.

Step 2

Pour in the beaten eggs on the ginger and do as you normally do your omelette.

Step 3

Put in the minced meat and make sure it's cooked and season with some pepper and soy sauce. Stir well but be careful not to break the eggs. You would want to have a big piece of omellete right?

Step 4

Pour in water and bring to boil.

Easy. Pop in a noodle which can also make a fuller meal. Enjoy! :)

Prawn Fried rice

This again is a really quick dinner. Chopped garlic, ginger and onions. Beat the eggs. Defrosting minced meat and prawns while chopping. Make sure it's yesterday's rice. Wash your lettuce and veges. I usually use cabbage or spinach.
I'll do the egg soup recipe later on.

Homemade Pasta Sauce from fresh tomatoes

I first started to cook spaghetti bolognese right after I got married. Before that we're both eating out a lot looking for the best pasta simply because our family doesn't cook Italian food. True enough that a plate of pasta cost so much in an above average italian/american restaurant and a crappy cheap price of pasta in some cafes doesn't taste good. So we thought of getting ourselves some nice pasta at home and since it's homecooked food no matter how the taste is it should be healthier than eating out. That's how my journey of cooking pasta started. And of course a nice tomato sauce is the trick to fantastic pasta. If you have read my old post on spaghetti you will notice a great color differences. And I must say my version of 'prego' taste better and healthier.

Ingredients:

- a lot of garlic sliced

- red onions chopped or sliced

- 30-40 pieces of fresh red tomatoes ( I got it once awhile when Carrefour having big sales around less than RM2/kg and usually I pay less than RM4 to make a huge jar that could last for 2 or 3 times of cooking for 2)

- basil

- ground black pepper

- salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash and clean all the tomatoes. Preferably soak them overnight in salt water to remove dirts or even impurities like chemical fertilizers. Wash them really generously.

2. Cut into halves or quarters so that it's easy to get them all nicely blended. It will take a good 15 to 20 minutes of blending time for 40 pieces of tomatoes. Do not add any water. Tomato itself has a lot of juice usually. If it doesn't means you have gotten some not so good tomatoes. The trick is be patient.

3. Heat up your pot with olive oil. If you prefer a silkier texture then put more.

4. Fry up the onions and garlics.

5. When you smell the fragance of the onions and garlics but not having them turned brown pour in the blended tomatoes and let them boil on high fire.

6. Season with pepper both black and white, salt and basil. Stir once awhile so the base doesn't get burnt. You will notice it gets thicker after awhile. Use a medium fire.

Notice that the sauce has just thicken up? Lessen by a quarter in half an hour or lesser.
A jar of tomato pasta sauce versus an egg for you to get the rough idea about the size of the jar. I bought it from Ikea. It can be stored to a week in the fridge. Great for a big dinner when you have friends and family coming over.
Lastly cook some pasta of your own choice, farfalle, angel hair, spaghetti or penne up to you.

The sauce serves as the base so you can treat it just like a can of preggo. Get some minced meat onions and garlic well seasoned in your pan and when it's cooked pour in 2 to 3 ladles of the sauce and put to boil. Very easy and you will love it.

A Dog's Purpose

This is the recent book that I've been reading every night together with my beloved dog, JayJay in short - JJ. I've never imagined that I would have a dog before because I've never petted a dog my whole life and of course I'm afraid of them. Mainly because I was chased by dogs when I was a kid. JJ came by a surprise my hubby brought home. There were ups and downs in the beginning and we were very sad and regretted with all the decisions we had made before that had led us to becoming great owners today to our little bundle of joy. A fur-kid most people acknowledge nowadays. The joy of being a dog parent and its best friend, I would say, really so valuable that no matter rich or poor, your dog sees you as his coolest best buddy ever. A friendship that solely builds out of love.

The book is about a dog's life. Very different compared with Marley & Me and all the Chicken Soups. Yes, I mean you will be reading what a dog thinks. To understand more about their lives. Multiple lives and they sort of remembering every lives they had.

Why do we own dogs? Some people for love, some for other reasons. But to me we grew stronger bond every day. It's such a miracle that I had overcame the fear of dogs. I've learnt so much and every day is a hope. The joy of seeing him every morning I open my eyes. The anticipation of seeing him waiting at the door everyday after work. The lovable puppy eyes when he's begging for food and wants to play. I have never met anything so real and does not have even a single of betrayal sign ( well, apart of being naughty and cheeky. He just gives me laughs every time with his innocent betrayal eyes ).

In my context, JJ rescued me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px_8id3qPeQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Curry Chicken noodle

A simple dinner for curry lovers. I didn't have time to prepare much ingredients for this round of curry chicken. The curry ingredients is from a prepacked curry from Nyonya Colours. It's quite easy for people who doesnt have much time to cook right after work. I've added something extra for the flavour and taste. Just chopped up a little bit more of onions and shallots for extra fragance and some curry leaves or lemongrass as well. They blend pretty well in the end. :)

VE@ Bandar Menjalara Kepong

Nasi Lemak has been our all time favourite. Been searching for the childhood time curry chicken taste that we used to have back then. So happen my brother's colleague packed this nasi lemak to the office for him to try. Straight away he called me and said.... Hey.. I've found THE taste we used to like. Can't wait for the weekend. We really went to try out the first thing on a Saturday morning. Not hard to find. Around the main centre of Menjalara Town somewhere near the mosque area. Out of PJ here we go......

This is it. I have to say the sambal is yummy. The taste is spicy with a little of sweetness there therefore I can eat. :DThis is the combo set. Curry chicken and curry pork.

The curry pork. One thing about the curry gravy is it's not watery like others. The portion is just nice.

If just curry chicken nasi lemak this is what you will get. I wouldn't say the portion is little because the taste itself is satisfying. :)

They do sell noodles as well. Wantan noodle.

Prego Pasta Sauce in Can

Very easy to cook and definitely yummy-licious...

Vivo @ Tropicana City Mall

The first visit to Vivo. As the name suggested, in Italian means ''fast''. Was served pretty fast though. But the quality and portion of the restaurant is pretty good. Very worth the money we spent and was really a full stomach when we leave.

This is a free drink because our order is almost RM50. Marshmallow on top with chocolate and cream. So sinful but was yummy~~ I have to say that this is not bad. The toppings were generous. I'm sure given any pizza ordered they will still give such generous portions. Thumbs up for this although I forgotten what was the name. Lucky we had thin crust, else this 10inch pizza will be too much for 2 person. Yes, two of us had this much of food for a saturday dinner at 9pm. :D

Another big portion here. Pretty crunchy. At first bite, it feels like eating homecooked chicken fingers our mothers used to make.

Baked spaghetti meatballs. By the time this reached our table, we were half full because of the pizza. But because I'm a pasta fan, this is not going to stop me from eating. All I can say is the meatballs are pretty huge and the creammy-ness of the bolognese sauce is ok. Not too bad. :)