For My Buddy

Day 120

You are...
My friend,
My companion,
Through good times and bad.
Beside me you stand,
Beside me you walk.
You're there to listen,
You're there to advise,
With happiness, with smiles,
With pain and with tears.
I know you'll be there,
throughout the years!

Thank you buddy!

Gin's Kitchen - Ba Chor Mee (Minced Pork Noodles)

Day 120

Time flies. It has been 120 days since we came here and we are beginning to get used to life here. So long as one don't expect efficiency, don't expect good service, don't expect anything that will WOW you, life here is pretty good.

I have not been able to find a job yet, so I am keeping myself active in the kitchen. (Mr Tan is happy that I am not working so that I have time to cook for him everyday) I had a sudden craving for Ba Chor Mee (Minced Pork Noodles) and decided to try cooking it. Luckily, it didn't taste too bad. I love my Ba Chor Mee with lots of vinegar. It certainly satisfied my craving for it. I can't wait to go back in Dec to FEAST!

Ingredients

Egg Noodles (couldn't find any Mee Pok and You Mee here)

Bean Sprouts

50-100g of minced pork (marinade with soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper and water)

4 Chinese mushrooms (soaked and sliced thinly)

Cuttlefish balls (forgot to buy fishballs and meatballs so added cuttlefish balls instead)

Fish cake (sliced thinly)

Ginger (sliced thinly)

Oil

Water

Dark Soy Sauce

Light Soy Sauce

Oyster Sauce

Sugar

Vinegar

Sambal Chilli

Directions

Minced Pork

1. Add 1 teaspoon of oil into a pot and stir-fry the minced pork

2. Dish it out when cooked. Do not wash pot, use the same pot to stew the mushrooms

Stewed Mushrooms

3. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in pot, add ginger and fry till fragnant

4. Add mushrooms to stir-fry

5. Add 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce, 100ml of water, 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to the mushrooms and let it cook on low heat for at least 30 mins. Add in more water as needed (very impt to cook for at least 30 mins so that the mushrooms will be bursting with flavour!)

Cuttlefish Balls and Fish Cake

6. Heat up a pot of water to cook the cuttlefish balls and fish cake

7. Dish out with cooked

Bean Sprouts and Noodles

8. Add 1 tablespoon of Sambal Chilli, 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil and 2 tablespons of vinegar on a plate

9. Cook noodles and bean sprouts and dish out on plate when cooked

10. Add the rest of the ingredients and some gravy from the mushroom stew and serve!

I doubt I will cook as much when I go home 2 years later. Eating out is expensive here. A bowl of noodles cost $8-9 but back home, a bowl of noodles only cost $3. It is probably cheaper to eat out than cook at home, plus there is no need to clean up after the meal. 吃饱了，拍拍屁股就走，省事又省时!

Gin's Kitchen - Saucepan Egg Tofu (平底锅豆腐)

Day 119

It has been a while since I had egg tofu. Mr Tan suggested making 铁板豆腐, of course, he only talks while I try to make it happen. But we have no hotplate so we decided to make do with our saucepan. It is a troublesome dish to prepare and needless to say, there are many improvements I need to make if I decide to make this dish again.

1. The saucepan must be very very hot in order for the egg to sizzle.

2. The tofu shouldn't be cut too thin. Cut each tube into 6 pieces instead of 8.

3. Don't use too much minced pork and sauce. Tofu is the main dish!

Ingredients

2 tubes of Japanese Tofu

50g of minced pork

2 eggs

3 pieces of Chinese mushrooms (sliced thinly)

3 button mushrooms (chopped)

50ml of water

2 tablespoons of corn starch (mix with some water)

Marinade for minced pork

2 tablespoons of light soy sauce

1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

Pepper

Sesame oil

Shaoxing wine

2tablespoons of water

Seasoning

1/2 tablespoon of dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

1/2 teaspoon of sugar

1. Fry the egg tofu until golden brown (be careful when frying as the tofu splatters ALOT)

2. Remove excess oil from wok. Leave 2 teaspoons in wok.

3. Add Chinese mushrooms and button mushrooms to wok and stir-fry for about 1 minute

4. Add in minced pork and continue to sitr-fry

5. When pork is cooked, add in seasoning, followed by 50ml of water and let it boil

6. Stir in the corn starch to thicken the gravy

7. Remove gravy from wok and prepare the saucepan

8. Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in saucepan till hot (must be very very hot)

9. Pour in the egg into the saucepan and add tofu and gravy. Continue to heat the saucepan for about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and serve!

As the days go by, I realise I am becoming more adventurous in the kitchen. I do hope that at the end of 2 years, I will be able to master (master here means I don't have to look at any recipes) 100 dishes. This shall be my aim. Being someone who gets bored easily, I don't like to cook the same stuff every week. I have been searching the net for recipes to try and with each little success, I become more confident and more willing to try. I guess it is the same for everything in life. If you don't try, you will never know how far you can go, how high you can reach. The fear of failure often stops one from trying. Only when one starts to recognise that failure brings one closer to success will one start to try. I am glad I am starting to try. :)

Eat, Eat, Eat and Eat!

Day 117 (27 November 2010)

Our food adventure in the suburbs started at 10am and ended at 11pm.

Other than eating, it was still eating!

Jiaqi suggested renting a car to get out of the city and we were all game for it. She was our "Interactive GPS" for our food adventure, a GPS that gave directions in Hokkien, told the drivers to signal and even warned them of red light. Haha. She knew the way very well as she used to live in the area where we were going during her university days. The suburb feels so different from the city, no tall buildings, traffic weren't so heavy, no trams but it seems more happening than the city!

We picked up the car at 10am and this time round, there was no free upgrade. We were given a Nissian Mirca, a little too small for the 5 of us. The boys took turns to be the drivers and sat in front. Luckily the 3 of us were small enough to fit into the back. :)

Our first stop - Dim Sum at Imperial Kingdom

Imperial Kingdom is Jiaqi's fave dim sum place. When we reached at 11am, the restaurant had just opened its doors and some of the waiters looked las if they had just got out of bed. There was a smell in the restaurant and everything looked rather old. We waited for a while for the dim sum to be pushed around and everyone tucked in immediately as we were hungry! The dim sum was hit and miss. Some were good, some were average. The 炸云吞 was my favourite. It was fried to perfection. The skin was crispy and the filling was moist and delicious. The sweet and sour sauce was a perfect complement! 鲜虾肠粉 is a must for me whenever I have dim sum. I was very happy that their 鲜虾肠粉 was good too. We have tried 肠粉 that were too cakey and had shrimps that were more like 蝦米 but the one here was smooth and had big and plump shrimps. The 虾饺 was huge and filled with prawns. However, their 流沙包 was rather disappointing. It was flowy but the salted yolk taste was overpowered by the milk.

The 5 of us were stuffed and could hardly move. Mr Tan found the food better than Shark's Fin House. The bill came up to be less than $100, which was cheaper and definitely a better dining experience than Shark's Fin House.

Second Stop - Chadstone Shopping Centre

With our stomachs full, it is time for some exercise. We headed to Chadstone for some shopping!! There is a 50% storewide discount at Polo Ralph and needless to say, that was our first stop. I bought a polo-tee for myself while Mr Tan bought 2. Jiaqi and Jasmine bought alot! I was deciding if I should buy for Bro but I think he has more than enough clothes and his current fave brand is Fred Perry so I shall not waste my $ on him. Haha. Chadstone is a huge shopping centre with luxurious brands such as LV, Miu Miu, Chanel and Gucci. There are so many shops that I can spend at least 2 days there. But I am not working now, so I need to curb my spending. Moreover, I intend to shop when I go back to shopping paradise in Dec! But I will be going Chadstone the next time I need some retail therapy. Mr Tan can head to Toys R Us while I am there. :P After walking around for a while, we decided to go for desserts. Yes, eat again!

Third stop - The Pancakes Parlour

Jiaqi and Shenton have a friend working at Pancake Parlour so we headed there for some pancakes. We had Alice in Wonderland and Chocolate Jubilee. We only ordered 2 to share among the five of us. It was enough as we were still quite full from the morning dim sum. Shenton was busy talking to his friend while the four of us devoured the pancakes. Pancakes always taste so good with ice cream. Yummy.

Fourth stop - Asian Grocery Supermarket

Time for some grocery shopping. Our GPS (Jiaqi) couldn't remember the place and we were lost. She could only remember that it was in Springvale. She called a friend for directions and we were there at our fourth stop within 5 minutes. The shopping centre was like "Little Vietnam". Vietnamese bread, vietnamese restaurants, vietnamese signboards and lots of vietnamese. They sell the same stuff as the Asian Grocery stores in the city but according to Jiaqi, they are cheaper but the variety is not as much as the ones in the city.

Fifth stop - Rock Kung Chinese Restaurant (發記)

The 5 of us were in shorts and the weather has turned chilly. It was windy and so so cold. We did not make any reservations at the restaurant and had to wait for a table. We were hungry and had already decided on the menu. Crabs, Duck and Pork Ribs. We had 2 crabs, each was 2.25pounds. 1 was cooked with salted egg and the other with 姜蔥. There was no chilli crab here and sadly, both crab dishes were almost tasteless. There was no sweetness of the crab and the salted egg yolk was insufficient to make any impact on the dish. I prefer the chilli crabs from Pacific House. Luckily the pork ribs and duck were not too bad. The meal came up to be $200 as the crabs cost $25 per pound which was much cheaper than Pacific House. I won't want to return here for dinner again. I'm sure there are better options in the area.

Everyone was not really full after the meal but there were only 3 dishes and after a while, 有點膩 and Mr Tan was craving for dessert again.

Last stop - Giorgios

Jiaqi said that she will bring us to have this place where the Sticky Date Pudding is the best in Melbourne. It was raining and freaking cold when we reached there. It was past 9 but Giorgios was crowded. Thankfully we got a seat inside. The Sticky Date Pudding was really big and came with butterscotch sauce. The pudding, coupled with the butterscotch sauce was simply, heavenly. It was indeed the best I had tasted so far. We had so much fun on our 13-hour adventure and it certainly brought me closer to Jasmine and Jiaqi. Cheers to our friendship! :)

 

p/s: the post only managed to be up on Sunday but the adventure was on Saturday!

Gin's Kitchen - Salt and Pepper Fish Fillet

Day 116

I am not a fan of fish and every time I go to the market, I buy 'familiar' fish such as snapper, mackerel, salmon and pomfret. I have never heard of elephant fish, tiger flathead or barramundi. Of course, it could be due to the fact that I never need to do marketing back home and I simply eat whatever Mama puts on the dining table.

Last week, I finally bought some 'unheard of' fish fillet. I bought a piece of basa fish fillet. The cheapest one so that in case I destroy the fish during my cooking experiment, I won't feel the pain. I am very happy to say that it was delicious! It might not be restaurant fare but at least I managed to get the batter right.

Ingredients

1 piece of Basa Fish Fillet

1 garlic (minced)

1 bird's eye chilli

1/2 teaspoon of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of salt (adjust to your own liking)

1/2 teaspoon of pepper (adjust to your own liking)

A dash of Shaoxing wine

Marinate for fish

1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1 egg white

3 tablespoons of corn flour

1. Cut the fish into bite size pieces

2. Mix the marinate together until the batter is smooth. Add in the fish and make sure the fish is coated evenly. Set it aside for 30 mins

3. Pan fry the fish until it is golden brown. Remove from wok (I did not drain in on paper towel for fear that it might turn soggy)

4. Heat 2 teaspoons of oil and fry the garlic and chilli until fragnant. Add in salt, pepper and sugar

5. Add in the fried dish and a dash of Shaoxing wine and toss them well

The batter was easy to make and the best part is, it is light and crispy, yes crispy! *Yippie* Mr Tan thought I had used a premix for the batter and seasoning. He said, "Hmmm, not bad ah, improving." :)

Take Care, Mama and Papa

Day 115

Mama hasn't been feeling well lately. She has been feeling faint for the past few weeks and it got pretty bad lately. I just skyped with her and she mentioned that she went to see the doctor and the medication is making her feel weak. Papa is bringing her to see the sinseh, hopefully it will help. She looked weak and tired. 

Work has been stressful and tough for Mama, especially in the last few years. 

Perhaps age is catching up on her too and the long working hours and tight deadllines are taking a toll on her body. 

Perhaps she is worried about me. Although she doesn't ask me about my job search anymore, I know she is worried that I am not working and have no income. Being here for 2 years means having no income for 2 years. No income means I am relying on my savings and she is worried about how I am going to pay for my house in 2011. Both Mama and Papa feel that I have given up a lot to come here. It is something that I do not deny. I do hope that I can find work soon so that they have 1 less thing to worry about.

Thank you Papa for being there for Mama. Mama can be easily frustrated and irritated when she is unwell. Thank you for being positive and taking care of Mama. Please do not neglect your health too. It worries me to see both of you unwell. I love to see Papa smile and joke. You are the best father and husband in my eyes. :)

Gin's Kitchen - Oven Grilled Chicken Wings

Day 114

My Oven Experiment

I have never used an oven before I came here and today, I tried to use it to grill some chicken wings. I found this recipe from the net and the chicken wings look so so yummy, not to mention that they look crispy too. I followed the recipe but my wings were not crispy at all! :( Mr Tan said that it is probably impossible to make crispy wings using an oven. Many recipes mentioned using a broiler to make the skin crispy but I don't have this function on my oven. I didn't even know which function I should use to bake the chicken wings. Everyone simply says bake it, but how do I bake it??? I am such an oven idiot. So the best thing to do is to experiment and see what happens.

I set my oven to 200C on grill and then put in the wings for about 30 minutes but the skin was not crispy at all and they didn't look brown. So I increased the temp to 225C and changed to the setting to fan grilled. Well, I have absolutely no idea what is the difference between the 2 settings. The result? The wings started to turn brown! But....I got distracted by the show The Mentalist and some of the chicken wings were burnt! :(

Ingredients

6 chicken wings

Marinade

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon cayenne powder

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon salt

ground black pepper

1) Marinate the chicken wings for as long as you can. (At least 3 hours)

2) Lay tin toil on the baking tray

3) Drizzle some olive oil on the tin foil

4) Preheat oven to 200C on grill

5) Place chicken on the tray and bake in the oven for 20 mins. Turn the chicken after 20 mins and continue to bake for another 15 mins

6) During the last 7 mins, increase the temperature to 225C and switch the setting to fan grill

*IMPT TO CHECK ON THE CHICKEN WINGS DURING THE LAST 7 MINS AND TURN THEM WHEN THEY ARE BROWN (mine became burnt as I was distracted by Simon Baker :P)

Luckily, the chicken wings fared pretty well in the taste test. I actually enjoyed eating them, except for the burnt parts of course. It was sweet and spicy and it was a refreshing change. I might have cooked them for too long and there wasn't any juice left in the chicken. I will be trying them again, hopefully I will fare better on my 2nd attempt! :)

Eat Out - Thai Culinary (Delivery)

Day 112

After 2 days of fast food such as KFC and pizza on Phillip Island, I needed real food. But I was too lazy to cook dinner and we were too lazy to walk out for dinner. The solution? Food delivery from Thai Culinary. :)

Thai Culinary is located in the city and they provide delivery service for orders above $25. The guy who took my order said that it would probably take 30 - 45 mins for the food delivery but the food arrived in less than 30 mins! Impressive.

We ordered Prawns Pha Thai ($14), Thai Yellow Curry Chicken ($14) and Tom Yum Goong ($8.90). You can customise the level of spiciness - Not spicy, Mild, Spicy and Very Spicy. I ordered "Spicy" for all three dishes, thinking that we can surely handle it. But I was wrong. My lips were burning and it was too hot for me. Even Mr Tan found it hot. But the overall taste and portion was satisfactory. Thumbs up for the quick delivery too! I plan to visit their shop soon but this time, "Mild" for me!

 

 

 

3rd Trip - Phillip Island (Penguins Parade)

Day 1 @ Phillip Island

Penguin Parade

The highlight of our trip was to see the cute little penguins. The estimated time of arrival for the penguins was 840pm and we wanted to get a good seat so we reached there at 7pm. Then the agonising wait began. It was freezing cold sitting in front of the beach waiting for the penguins to come ashore. I could feel my nose and thumbs getting numb. It did not help that the irritating, inconsiderate and attention-seeking Singaporeans sitting in front of us were talking non-stop and kept bumping into my legs. 地方这么大，为什么你要坐在我前面? The 2 teenagers kept asking each other if they looked ugly and funny with their hoods and jackets on and how warm they would feel if they had their ski jackets, ski mask etc here with them. Their brother tried to catch their attention to tell them how much he knew about the ocean life. And, their parents were busy helping them to wear their jackets, wrap scarves around their necks, buying hot tea for them etc. Mr Tan voiced his displeasure. Either they are deaf or they have no manners. What a disgrace. Then the best thing happened. One of the birds pooed on one of the girl's bag and then, pooed on that girl!! Sorry but I think they totally deserve it.

There were many who brought their own mats and sat on the beach. We realised that there was no need to be there so early if you plan to sit on the beach. People who came later simply sat on the beach and they could see the penguins too. It was fun watching the penguins made their way up across the beach. The minute they sense danger, they turn and waddle back into the sea. Everyone laughed when some of the frightened ones scrambled back into the sea.

The best spot to get up close and personal with the penguins is not on the beach but along the boardwalk back to the visitor centre. As we make our way back to the visitor centre, there were so many of them along to the broadwalk! Some were resting, some were moving fast and occasionally, you see a few of them fighting. It was kinda funny to see them fight. First they stare, then they wait and then the action starts! They pinch their beaks and flap their flippers vigorously. Haha. What a sight. Photography was not allowed so as not to frighten the little ones and this is the only proof to show I had been there!

By the time we left the place, it was already 1015pm. After being in the cold for 3 hours, I wanted hot soup and pasta but restaurants and supermarkets were closed at 10. The only place that was still opened was a pizza place. I was so hungry that any food is better than no food. Lying on the comfortable sofa (covered with blanket), eating hot pizza, drinking ice cold coke, awwwwesome. 

 

3rd Trip - Phillip Island (Churchill Island & Nobbies Centre)

Day 112

2 Days 1 Night @ Phillip Island - My 2nd Birthday Present from Mr Tan :)

Day 1 @ Phillip Island

We collected the car on Satuday morning and they told us they ran out of GPS! We tried to call other car rental companies, hoping to find one with a GPS but to no avail. Google Maps on iPhone to the rescue! With accurate maps and directions, it was a perfect navigator except that it depleted the battery life fast. We reached the resort (All Seasons Phillip Island Eco Resort) before noon and were very happy that we could check in. Most of the accommodation on Phillip Island have a min 2-night stay policy and this was one of the few that allowed a 1-night stay.

We booked a 1-bedroom villa from Wotif but got a 2-bedroom villa instead. The sheets and towels were clean but there were so many spider webs on the roof and exterior. Yucks! There were stains on the sofa covers so I used the extra blankets from the 2nd bedroom to cover the sofas.

Churchill Island Heritage Farm

We had lunch at Subway before heading to Churchill Island Heritage Farm with our 3 Parks Pass ($36 for each adult). After 2 trips, I have lowered my expectations of the must-see attractions here. As the name suggests, it is a heritage farm with old buildings but what attract visitors are the daily farming activities such as cow milking, sheep shearing, blacksmithing and working dogs.

Nobbies Centre

Next stop was Nobbies Centre. We wore our hooded jackets and ventured onto the boardwalk. There were so many birds flying above us and we certainly don't wish to be "blessed" by them. It was very very windy and my jacket was too thin to withstand the cold.

By the time we finished the walk, we were cold and hungry and by the time we finished our fish and chips and wedges, we were sleepy. Haha. We took a nap in the car before heading for the highlight of our trip - The Penguin Parade!