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Having the right cookware helps
Yesterday, my friend phoned to ask if she can place two cakes side by side in her brand new oven which can takes both cake tins. She was so excited about Christmas and was in the dilemma, not knowing what to do.
Earlier, she also phoned me about her new deep fryer. She wasn’t sure if she should close the cover for faster cooking or will that cause her fried foods to turn soggy. My friend is already in her 50s and hence, is finally so pleased she can afford all these cookware and new oven.
Although she is a good cook, she couldn’t prepare several foods simply because she doesn’t have all the fanciful cookware sets as her family was merely struggling through. Now that her children are older and can afford to buy her all these cookware, she is thoroughly enjoying them.
So, if you are a new cook, you may want to know that sometimes our cooking skills are limited by our range of cookware in the kitchen. If you don’t have proper stew pot for example, you may not get the kind of melt in the mouth kind of meats. Or if you do not have the heavy base cookware, certain foods take long time to cook.
But of course, do not let the lack of proper cookware sets stopped you from preparing meals in the kitchen. Sometimes, simple meals will warm the heart although they are not the most elaborate dish.
Posted by lilian on December 23rd, 2009 under General | Comment now »My very short but very filling trip
I went to Hatyai, Thailand over the weekend. It was just a one night thing. Yet, I ate so much and seen so much. I was eating like very few hours because there are so many foods to sample.
My sons and I first went to McDonald’s to try out their Samurai Burger. It is pork burger with sweetish sauce. Though I don’t quite like it, the children love it because we don’t have pork burgers over here. Then, we headed over to the local foods and tried out pork leg, pork skin and almost every stall sells something with pork.
Though it was just a short vacation, it was a nice break because I had an enjoyable time taking photos of the foods, the people and the sceneries. I will certainly try to find cheap holidays where we can just take off without much pre-planning.
I always like to have spontaneous trips where we just decide the night before and fly or travel by car the next day. Of course, one needs to find some reliable sites to make the hotel bookings or find good last minute vacation packages.
Travelgrove is one of such sites where people can make holiday planning much easier because they have get all the details from one site. You can compare prices and find alternatives because they have compiled all the information for us.
Take a look.
*Sponsored post*
Posted by lilian on August 26th, 2009 under General | 2 Comments »A porky second chance at the Bulgarian restaurant
On Easter evening, I was craving for pork. So, we headed to Ingolf German restaurant but unfortunately, the place was fully reserved. I guess all the Catholics were craving pork at the same time?
Hubby who went to park his car earlier had paid for one hour parking fee and the man refused to go elsewhere ‘cos he said the money will be wasted. So, I had to stand there, pondering hard whether I should eat at the Bulgarian restaurant next door. I had a rather unpleasant experience in my last visit to this Bulgarian restaurant. We can’t think of any other places serving pork except Edelweiss so we decided to eat Bulgarian.
They were having some set dinner at only RM50++ per person which include a glass of red wine, soup or appetizer, main meal and dessert. We ordered two sets because we know their portions are huge. My hubby ordered a plate of spaghetti with cream sauce from the ala carte menu.
My son ordered the salad which is loaded with shrimps and smoked salmon. Meanwhile, I had the mushroom soup which is tasty. They also provide generous portion of butter and hot dinner rolls.
My son’s steak with cheese and potatoes is overflowing with melted cheese. The meal come with a portion of pickled cabbage, asparagus, fries and other type of greens.
I love the pork knuckle which is huge. The pork knuckle is roasted till tender, with some melt in the mouth fats. They give some barbeque sauce but I didn’t pour the sauce because the knuckle is tasty as it is.
With the two main meals and the spaghetti, four of us were already struggling to finish them. Lucky we didn’t order three meals or we would need to pack them again.
The dessert was banana cheese cake and it was yummy.
I think this restaurant has changed all their waiters and waitresses. The new batch seems better compared to the previous visit where they tried too hard to be hospitable.
The only bleh of the evening was this moron who was trying to show off his cheap glass of red wine. He sat there, trying to impress the girlfriend by swirling the glass almost the whole time! Doh! Just because he watched some crappy Astro AEC cookshow, he must think he is some fine dining connoisseur. I feel like going over to his table and pour my glass of red wine on his head and tell him to stop swirling because the action is giving me headache. LOL.
The cost of the dinner? It was just RM155 which compared to Secret Recipe, is value for money. (Read my bad review of Secret Recipe)
Posted by lilian on April 16th, 2009 under Eating places, Pork | 5 Comments »Barbee Burger – Minced pork burger
It started as a kitchen experiment by my eldest son and soon, it becomes a favourite amongst my kids. They have wondered what pork burger tastes like because we do not get them at McDonald’s Malaysia. I heard they serve pork in McDonald’s Thailand? I know Singapore and Hongkong also do not serve pork at their fast foods chain.
It is actually not difficult to make burger patties. All we used are :
INGREDIENTS TO MAKE BURGER PATTIES
600 grams minced pork
1/2 cup bread crumbs (we used the yellowish type meant for deep frying)
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 tablespoon cornflour
Flavourings (depending on what you have)
dash of Worchestershire sauce
dash of Maggi seasoning (the yellow cap, thin, tall bottle with square bottom?)
dash of black pepper
dash of cayenne pepper (a mix of spices)
salt
Mix all the ingredients and flavourings in a big bowl and smash the blob of minced meat against the inner side of the bowl to sort of firm up the patty. Then, using a clean plastic bag or cling wrap, roll the patty to the thickness you want. Leave this layer of meat in the fridge for a few hours for it to firm up further.
Using an appropriate size cup or bowl, ‘cut’ the patty into equal sizes and wrap them into clingwraps and freeze if you want to store the balance. Alternately, you can roll the patty into balls, and then, flatten it. We found that to be more tedious than to ‘cut’ them like how you cut cookies.
My two older sons pan fried the burger patty till cook and brown. Then, they wrap it with egg like how burger stalls do. Plenty of black pepper, mayonnaise, Worchestershire sauce and cheese made the burger as good as Ramly’s. Only less halal. 
I never like the idea of buying local burgers from the burger stalls because the meat patty contains a lot of animal fats. If you don’t believe, try frying a piece and see how much fats oozed out. I wonder which part of the animal they use for these burgers?
Now, barbee burger is a easily available because we can store them in the fridge. You can use minced chicken or minced beef but we have never try them yet.
Posted by lilian on March 25th, 2009 under Pork, Recipe | 13 Comments »New mom’s first meal – steamed pork with sesame oil and ginger
I just dug out some old photos and remembered the time when my eldest sister’s eldest daughter had a baby. My sis asked me to help her to prepare the meal for her daughter when she was in the hospital. As with my mother’s tradition, the first thing she fed my two older sisters and my brother’s wife was steamed minced pork with sesame oil and ginger.
So, I did exactly what my mom used to do. It is really easy to make because I just need to buy some fillet pork (bak thau) because it is believed that the fillet part is not so ‘toxic’ for new moms and ask the butcher to mince it. Next, I slice the ginger and cut them finely. Stir fry the ginger with lots of sesame oil. You may notice an ugly layer of oil but that’s what mom insisted. Plenty of sesame oil to keep the new mom warm. I usually remove some of the ginger for garnishing and mix the rest of the oil and ginger into the meat and steam it with a little soy sauce of taste.
On another meal, I cooked these stir fried celery, carrot with lots of garlic and fresh tumeric slices. I used Indian spices like fennel, fenugreek and mustard seeds because fennel and fenugreek helps with increasing breast milk production. This is a very easy to prepare meal which I cooked for new moms. See? You don’t need to hired super expensive, nagging, old lady for confinement ladies.
Posted by lilian on March 20th, 2009 under General | Comment now »Siew Mai – How do they make the skin moist?
I have a failed siew mai making project recently. The taste of the minced pork with prawns is good. However, the skin remains dry and unimpressive even after I have steamed the siew mai for a long time.
This is the siew mai before steaming. I put a tiny piece of salted duck eggs on top. The skin I used is the frozen wantan skin.
For variety, I also used century egg to give it a black dot. Eventhough the siew mai looks not too bad and taste good, the skin is too dry.
For the second batch, I wipe the moisten the skin with some water and yet, they turned out as dry.
This is the ‘mimic-king professional food photographer’, classic Chinese dish food photo. Can you see the flour still looking dry in the middle siew mai? This plate has been steamed for a long time and yet, the skin doesn’t seem to absorb some water to make it softer.
The other thing is the siew mai I made does not ooze oil and therefore, doesn’t taste as good those sold by dim sum shops.
Sigh…anyone knows why the skin is dry?
Posted by lilian on March 19th, 2009 under Recipe | 15 Comments »Today getting insurance is as important as living a secure life. People mostly prefer life insurance or medical insurance but trip loving people do not forget to have travel insurance as well. Talking about trips; one cannot forget the resorts of Caribbean islands. Just pick up a travel guide and go through caribbean travel to excite your trip. Moreover, near vacations many companies offer cheap airline tickets so that most of the people can have the opportunity to enjoy trip with low budget.