English breakfast with homemade hashbrown

Scrambled egg, sausage onion and hashbrown.

Scrambled eggs:
Beat an egg with about 5 spoons of milk(estimated).
Scramble it while frying for about 30 seconds on a buttered pan.
Done!

Sausage onion:
Use yellow onion cut into cubes.
Cut the sausage diagonally.
Butter the pan, then fry the sausages first for a few minutes then add in the onions.
Fry for about 5 minutes and serve!

Hashbrown:
1. Wash and peel potato.
2. Shred potato and wash with cold water, to wash off the starch.
3. Dry the potato and mix with pepper and a pinch of salt.
4. Butter the pan, then spread the potato onto the pan.
5. Fry til golden brown.
6. May add mozzarella cheese for taste.
Serve.

Baked beans can be another side as well.
Enjoy! 

Spaghetti with mushroom sauce. Cabonara perhaps?

I don't cook often, but when I do... YUM!!

Spaghetti with mushroom sauce. And butterhead salad with Kewpie deep roasted sesame sauce drench.

Mushroom sauce ingredients: (may vary according to what I have in stock. XP)
1. Cream of mushroom soup (may use cream of chicken too)
2. Onion
3. Sausage
4. Crabstick
5. Carrots (cut into cubes)
6. Button mushrooms
7. A pinch of sugar
8. A teaspoon butter to oil the spaghetti and fry the sausage.
9. Hot water, half a cup
10. Cheddar cheese for topping (or any cheese of my preference/in stock)

How to:
1. While boiling hot water for the spaghetti, I started cutting up the sausage, crabsticks, carrot, onion, mushroom, however shape I like it to be.
2. Once the water is boiling, I dumped the spaghetti, about 10 straws of it and leave it for about 5 - 10 minutes.
3. While the spaghetti is boiling, I continue cutting whatever I still need to cut.
4. Once the spaghetti is done, I serve it on a plate and chunk a lil butter in it and mix it, so the spaghetti won't stick together when it's dry.
5. Oil/Butter the wok, once it is hot, chuck it in sausage and crabstick. Stir fry them for about 1 minute, then add in the onion. Stir fry for another 2 minutes or so, then dump in the mushroom and carrot cubes.
6. Stir fry for about a minute or 2, pour in the cream of mushroom and the hot water.
7. Stir the mixture a lil and let it simmer for about another minute or 2.
8. Now I can bathe the spaghetti with the sauce and add on the salad sides.

Bon appetite!


 

Spinach soup and mixed vegeom dish

Spinach soup ingredients:
1. Green spinach (Bayam hijau)
2. A handful Chicken meat, any parts will do.
3. Wolfberry
4. Salt to taste
5. 750ml water

Boil the water with the chicken meat and wolfberry for about half hour.
Put in the spinach and continue boiling for another 15 - 20 minutes then add in the salt and give a slight stir.
Voila! Homemade soup!

Mixed veg-omelette dish ingredients:
1. An egg
2. A little carrot, tomato, long beans, onions (actually any normal vege in chinese dish will do, go for the texture, colour and taste)
3. meatballs
4. garlic and shallots
5. soysauce, oyster sauce, salt, sugar

Fry the garlic and shallots in some oil til it's fragrant.
Add in the meatballs and stirfry for a few minutes.
Now add in the vege, usually the toughest one (carrots) first, and softest (tomato) later.
Add a lil oyster sauce, salt and sugar for taste. Stir fry a lil.
Add in the egg and beat it in the pan for about 1 - 2 minute then pour in a lil soy sauce.
Stir fry till you are satisfied with the colour and frangrance.
Aaaand we're done!

p/s: You can cheat by stirfrying leftovers from the packet-ketchup dish in the previous post and adding in an egg to the dish. Then just season with a lil soy sauce will do.


p/s 2: I usually do a trial and error method for the measurement of seasonings.  Observe and learn from the elders, that's my advice.  They do it the same way too, don't they?

15 min meal - Croissandwich

Croissant sandwich and 2 vege sandwiches

Crunch into a whole lot of vege (cucumber, tomato, coral salad) with extra calories from the buttery croissant and cheese with a ham in between!
First, toast the croissant layered with the ham and cheese. About 5 min will do.
After that, layer in your greens and reds and yellow even.
Don't forget to pour in some Kewpie deep roasted sesame sauce. You can spread in some mayonnaise or mustard or sauces of your choice.  

Munch it up! Enjoy!

Salted egg Pucuk Paku

Pucuk paku telur masin

This was a meal I had at home with my sister when our parents were away.
I stir fried the yolk of a mashed salted egg yolk til it was bubbling and added in the pucuk paku.
Seasoned with a lil oyster sauce and 3/4 teaspoon sugar.
We had it wrapped in coral salad, with cherry tomatoes and meat cubes.
Scrumptious!!

From packet ketchup into a dinner dish

I have recently been bugged by a dilemma between eating out or homemade solo meals. 
One requires extra budget from my not-so-fancy job, while the other prolong hunger time after work.
Well, I found a balance and slowly starting to like the creativity it takes for a kinda-lazy chef to whip up a meal!

takeaway-meal-packet-ketchup

sweet-sour chicken balls

 Turning packet ketchup into sweet sour sauce was genius! I have these packets lying around from takeaways and I never use them in sandwiches. So yeah, why not this?!
I dilute the sauce with some boiling hot water and add them into the dish.

Ingredients I saw in fridge:

• chicken balls (from a steamboat party)
• green beans from Bukit Tinggi bought 2 weeks ago
• carrot (took 1/3 of it)
• half a tomato
• onion
• oyster sauce 

And some salt, sugar and starch.

Stirfry them all and let the dish simmer about 3 minutes on the stove. And we're done!

It may be a loner's meal, but a full loner is a happy loner!

Yi Cha Xian Lao Yin, SS15, Subang Jaya

Exquisite tea and dessert.
Highly recommended.

Seoul Korea Restaurant, Taman Desa

Nice atmosphere for a friendly hangout, if you don't mind the oily after-smell on your shirt after.
Refillable side dishes to complement the main dishes.
Ginger tea and watermelon as dessert, on da house!
The best Korean restaurant I've been to so far. Beat Daorae, definitely!
Check it out! It's at Plaza Danau 2, Taman Danau Desa.

Rating: 4.5/5

The Boy who could see Demons

It is a fine line between mental illness and real illusions.
So which is it that the character is having?
Make your own conclusion after finish reading this.

Reminds me of "Minds of Billy Milligan"
But milder.

Ratings: 5/5

Tiger Mom!!

by Amy Chua

A Chinese Mother's battles in raising her children.
Being mean because of love.
How will her children end up in life?

p/s: I can hardly put down the book!
Ratings: 5/5

Turtle Alley, KT

Penyu Belimbing

Do you?

Facts on turtles

greeted by many different turtles on the wall along the alley

even a cutie red one smiling at you.

Indeed! Say NO to turtle eggs

Turtle Alley, situated at a small alley in Chinatown, Kuala Terengganu, near the dragon arch.
It is located between 2 rows of shophouses.
What sets it apart from other alleys in the town is the paintings and facts and figures about turtles.
There are paintings telling a cute story which you get to search for a little turtle in every painting while reading the story.
There is also facts about turtle, telling about which turtle is endangered, how bad is the situation with turtles in the country and even the world.
Go search for this Turtle Alley, if you ever drop by Chinatown in Kuala Terengganu.
While making this a sight-seeing trip, hope it also enlightens you and inspires you to contribute to saving our beloved turtles.

Loco Tea House, Bahau, Negeri Sembilan

Loco Tea House, Bahau

Interior~ cosy~

with a lil cute painting by a friend of the owner.

roasted oolong milk tea

Found this lil blue-coloured tea house situated at a lil corner in Bahau town.
Uniquely decorated making it stand out in between all the older shops nearby it.
Serving tea, milk tea and smoothies.
Friendly guy, also the boss chats with you while making your order. Also patiently recommending you drinks on his menu and explaining how the flavor may appeal to different people.

Whoever that drops by Bahau, Negeri Sembilan should give this cutie a try.

Rating: 5/5

P/S: sorry, the shop closed down 2 years ago...

Gossip Kitchen

Grilled fish with mashed potato and salad.
Verdict: 4.5 / 5

Not bad to actually have a good place to dine in in KT.
Gossip Kitchen, situated near Jalan Pusara, KT town.
The western meals are quite good. Definitely worth the price.
Enjoy!

Found another Korean Restaurant

Kimchi chigae

Bibimbap

Steam egg 

Quite an authentic Korean Restaurant in PJ.

Owner is a Korean, ya see. Can't remember the name of the restaurant thought... 

Situated in The Sphere, PJ, near University Malaya.

Jeram Trip

SMK Jeram fountain~

Mushroom for smurfs!

Beautiful beach, comparable to Trg!

Awesome seafood at Jeti Restaurant, Pasir Penambang

See Me After Class - Roxanna Elden

"This book is meant to keep you from getting discouraged when it seems like all those fabulous ideas you learned in training don't work in your own classroom."
"This book is NOT chicken soup for the teacher's soul. It's more like hard liquor for the teacher's soul, because new teachers need something stronger than chicken soup."
"But we need you to stay on your job, and stay sane."

An awesome read. And I am only on chapter 3.
As a teacher, this books will make you feel better knowing there are teachers who have been there, done that, EXACTLY like what you are going through now. That's the awesome part, EXACTLY like what I am going through now. Hence, it is giving me good humour knowing that what I am going through is not just my problem but nearly every new teacher as well. I am terrible, but I am not "specially" terrible. I am not that good at doing a bad job, so don't be so emo about being bad. There are WORSE cases.
It is like reading a diary of your own story, just written by someone else, which makes it really funny as well.

Love it~!

Smooth steam eggs

Ingredients for 2-3 person's portion:
2 Eggs
1 or 2 tbsp oil or sesame oil or oil from fried shallots
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup of boiling hot water
Options for extra flavouring: Salted eggs or dried shrimps

1. Beat eggs in a bowl you will steam it in. Add in the salted eggs or dried shrimps if you want to.
2. Add in a dash of soy sauce and some oil.
3. Heat up some water in the wok to steam the eggs
4. Add in the hot water into the bowl to double the amount of eggs in the bowl. Continue beating the eggs.
5. Steam the eggs for 10 minutes.

Voila! Smooth steam eggs.
The trick is to use hot water to beat the eggs first before steaming it. And the dash of oil to make the eggs smoother and less dry on the surface.

Subway sandwich - Juin's-style

Ingredient sandwiched in normal white bread: fried egg with vegetables Asian style
1. Oil the wok, fry a little garlic.
2. Add in vege (be it sprouts, ferns, or lady fingers), stir fry it with a little oyster sauce and soy sauce for seasoning.
3. Add in the egg, scramble it with the vege and continue stir frying it.
4. Turn off the fire cos the dish is done.

Then just spread the dish onto a white bread, or perhaps wholemeal bread, according to your preference.
Amazingly, it tastes okay!

The Book of Lost Things

Credits: http://creativityscorner.blogspot.com/

What if stories were real? What if books whispers in your ears, telling you their history and the stories they contain within?
What if YOU are the story?
A book that touches on emotions and how they can come to life. Lovely plot that keeps you wanting to journey more into the story with the main character, David. A story of his lose and what he thought he lost. Grow with the character along his path to find his way home.

Verdict: 4/5

Haeun Khon Korean Restaurant, Amcorp Mall, PJ

Haeun Khon Korean Restaurant. Hidden in the 3rd floor of Amcorp Mall, next to Mc Donalds.

Humble, physically, yet serving AWESOMEly delicious korean cuisine.

Everything is reasonably priced. 

I have not tried everything, but those I'd tried were served in HUGE portion.

Sweet deco

Bibim Bap - RM14.90

The bowl is larger than my hand... IT IS HUGE!! super worthied

Mixed up Bibimbap

Daenjang Chigae - RM16.90 - Piping hot

Verdict: 5/5

To all Korean food-lover, worth a try. 

I'm not an expert in the authenticity of Korean cuisine, but the food served in here is seriously good.