Hat Parade

We're into hats recently....

Aye aye sir

elephant, elephant, why is your nose so long?

Blur sotong

Tis better

Dish #7 - Oyster Sauce Chicken

Mummy: I had oyster sauce chicken for lunch today. Its one of the easiest dish to cook. All u need are:

Ingredients:

- Desired chicken parts - i used the wings here

- Sliced ginger - a few slices will do

- 1 tbsp oyster sauce

- half bowl of water

- oil for frying

- Corn flour (thickener)

Preparations:

Heat wok with oil. Saute the ginger slices slightly till they turn golden brown or fragrant. Add in the chicken pieces & stir fry till almost cooked. Add in 1 tablespoon oyster sauce & water. Cover the wok & simmer on low heat till sauce hv almost dry up. Add in cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce. Serve with rice.

** If u prefer a more watery texture, add in more water before dishing up the food. Mix well. **

Dish #6 - Scallops & Gingko Nuts

Mummy: I surf online & saw quite a no. of recipes on scallops but i do not hv all the neccessary ingredients they mentioned. So i add here, minus there, change a little & turn ard the whole dish.

I used scallops & gingko nuts as the main food in this dish. Since i hv some leftover sweet peas & shitake mushrooms, might as well used those too. i dunno wat the outcome will be like at first cos like i said, i do not hv all the ingredients

eg: tumeric powder, 5 spice powder, mirin, grounded black pepper, etc... so i anyhow mix & match lor. Hehe..

Ingredients:

- Gingko nuts ( i bot those pkt ones but remember to remove the stems else the nuts wld taste bitter)

- Scallops - washed & soaked in salt water for abt 10-15mins. Drain.

- 3 shitake mushrooms - sliced

- 1 red bell pepper - seeds removed & sliced

- Sweet peas - washed & tips cut off

- 1 tbsp chinese cooking wine ( my fren told me to add it cos i do nt hv any special seasoning)

- Light soy sauce

- Cornflour (thickener)

- Oil

- Water

From top left: red bell peppers, shitake mushrooms, sweet peas

Bottom left: scallops, gingko nuts

** dun hv to buy those expensive Hokkaido scallops la. just normal supermarket wrapped ones will do. Cheapo me! :P

Preparations:

Heat wok with oil. Stir in the mushrooms for abt 1 min. Next, add in the gingko nuts, bell pepper & sweet peas. Continue tossing for abt 2-3 mins. Add in the scallops & stir fry till they turn white. Add 1tbsp of cooking wine, pouring ard the wok. Add water & simmer with wok covered for abt 1-2 mins. Add in light soy sauce & corn flour thickener when sauce bubbles. Serve

Tadam! Colourful dish. Tis time no comments. But apparently each individuals seems to hv a liking for a separate ingredient which i hv noticed. My fil: the red bell peppers, my sil: the shitake mushrooms, another sil: the sweet peas. But of cos, everybody gt their fair share of the scallops la. :)

Dish #5 - Fish Fillet in Tomato Sauce

Mummy: I came across a recipe abt prawns in tomato sauce but i thot fish wld taste better. So i replace the prawns with fish instead but i copy the recipe with some additional items :P

I was wondering wat type of fish wld be suitable so i went to Cold Storage. They hv some description written on each individual type of fish & the country the fish comes from. This is a very helpful especially for someone like me who can nvr really diferentiate the diff variety of fishes. I bot cream snapper fillet; cost me $6.30. Can anyone tell me what is the chinese name for snapper?

Ingredients:

- Fish fillet - i used cream snapper fillet, cut into 4 pieces cos my plate too small.

- 1 tomato - cut into cubes

- 1 green bell pepper - sliced

- 1 small onion - chopped ( Sad movies always make me cry....oh oh oh....onions always make me cry....)

- cornflour for dusting

- oil

Sauce x 2 servings (i will explain why below):

- 1 tbsp tomato sauce - i used the commercial type - maggie tomato sauce la. haha.

- 1 tbsp sugar or 1 tsp, depending on preference cos the tomato sauce itself contains sugar already.

- 2 tbsp water or 20ml

Preparations:

Heat oil in wok. Stir fry onions till soft.

Add in green bell peppers & tomato cubes & continue stir frying for abt 2-3 mins.

Pour in the 1st serving of mixed sauce & bring it to a boil.

Slip in the fish fillet gently. Stir the ingredients & sauce onto the fish.

Cover the wok & let in simmer on low heat. Turn fish over midway during simmering.

Simmer till fish is cooked.

Serve

** Why i mention that 2 servings of the sauce is needed. You will notice dat after the fish is simmered & cooked, the sauce will be dried up as it is absorb by all the ingredients & the fish. So what i did was, i dish up everything in the wok & pour the 2nd serving of sauce into the wok. I brought it to a boil & pour over the fish again. **

Comments from family members: fish is very fresh. Good / Sauce a little too sweet. Hmmm...maybe shd add a little more water.

Happy Birthday to Daddy

Today is Daddy's birthday but Daddy says a birthday cake is nt neccessary. But Mummy feels dat if there is no bday cake, looks so empty so Mummy decided to make a little something to present it to Daddy.

** The one with 2 cherries below the mouth is a bowtie so dat is Daddy. The other one is me. Haha... **

Mango Jelly with mixed fruit cocktail.

Here's wishing Daddy: A Happy Happy Birthday!

Dish #4 - Steam Tofu with Minced Meat

The beginning of another week. What's in store? I did Steam Tofu with Minced Meat for the family's dinner today. However, i am quite clumsy when its come to handling tofu. So soft & wobby. Haha... but i did it. :P

Ingredients:
- 1 box of rectangular tofu or those round tube tofu. I used the round tube ones.
- Minced meat.

Seasoning:
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar

Sauce for the tofu:
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp light soy sauce - optional since u will hv light soy sauce as part of the seasoning on ur minced meat.
- 1/2 tsp oil
- 200ml water - i tried with only 100ml the 1st time & the taste was too saltish. So 200ml shd be js right.
- corn flour - thickener

Preparation:
Season the minced meat with abv seasoning
Cut ur tofu in pieces - abt 4-6 piece if u are using the rect ones or abt 8-10 pieces if u are using the round ones. You can also just leave the tofu as it is for the rect ones.
** I am using steaming for this dish so pls get the correct type of tofu as some are nt suitable for steaming. Its indicated on the packaging. **
Spread ur minced meat on top of the tofu. If you are using the tofu as it is, spread evenly all ard.
Lay the tofu on a steaming dish & steam it on high heat till meat is cooked. Abt 5-8 mins will do.
Drain away the excess water & set aside.
Boil the sauce & thicken it with corn flour. Pour over tofu & served.

Wat ya think?

Comments given by my family members: good but a little sweet / nice tofu / sedap.

Parents & Tots Class - Lesson 1

Hiya, today is my 1st lesson for the PT class. PT = Parents & Tots ( 18mths - 3yrs). I am in room 2 iso room 5 which Mummy was told. Anyway, Mummy double check with the name list pinned on the board & its confirm dat i am in room 2 wor.

My teachers are teachers Lafa & teacher Naz, Naz something. We had only 5 students today, including myself. Perhaps its due to the heavy rain dat all the parents pontang class. Hehe...

The lessons conducted are somewhat the same as PB class except tis time round, we get to identify each zoo phonics alphabets & match them to the alphabets pasted across the wall. I gt the letter D & T. For D, i was wrong the 1st try. I matched the letter to Catina Cat - C instead. Then Mummy showed me the strokes for D & recite to me A B C D. The 2nd try, i gt it right. As for T, i straight away matched the corrrect card on the wall. Clapped hands!

Then also, we learn hw to match alphabets & the pronouciation for each word formed. This is something new for me. Mummy gt homework here to do already. Haha. Eg: Missy Mouse = M, Ally Alligator = A & Nigel Nightowl = N. Put them together - M A N & they're pronouce as MAN.

As for numberings, we learn the # 4. We also learned to identify numbers. Teacher Naz wld draw a number on the board & asked if tis is the number we are learning today. Headache ar.... So different from my PB class. Cry!

At least teacher Naz drew 4 diff insects on the board cos we our lead role is Inny Inchworm = I today. We learn words dat begins with the letter I - Igloo, Ill, Insects, Inside, In. So we have a dragonfly, a bee, a butterfly & an ant. For artwork, we learned how to make an igloo. An igloo is a hse for the eskimos who lived in the North Pole & its very very cold there. Teacher Naz explained dat the eskimos gt to weat thick fur coats to keep themselves warm. We were each given a cut out paper igloo. We were all given brush & glue to spread all over the paper. Then we took white paper cubes to stick ard the igloo. I m more interested in the glue though, making Mummy quite mad at me.