Two Monsters

Last Friday hubby was cleaning his work vehicle when I came out of the house and saw a puppy laying by him. She's proceed to follow him/us everywhere and would not go away. It was dark and without electricity at our neighborhood we decided to keep her for the night. Hubby fell in love with her because she's such a good dog. She's like the total opposite of Stanley. She's mellow, quiet and down to earth. The only problem is she's going to be a big dog. I don't want a big dog and I'm don't want to deal with big dogs!When the two dogs are together they constantly play and wear each other out! Stanley likes to think that he's so big and loves to disturb her!They would play for a little and then they would rest and continue again. I have two of the same toys/chew for both of them but for apparently some reason they want ONE of each and will fight for that ONE...*faint*...

Little Puppy

Playing outside

After playing..taking a nap!

Hubby locked them up in one cage just for the fun of it!LOL

We asked aunt and uncle if they wanted her and they already have two dogs of their own therefore it'll be a little difficult for them to have three which I totally understand but they are the once that I trust the MOST that will give her a really happy and also because we barely know any one here.

We are actually not even sure if she's a stray or someone actually dropped her off. There was a tennis ball in front of the house when she came. The worst part was she only has a thin miserable looking collar on her with no tags. We went to the store the next day and bought her a new collar. She's such a good little puppy which makes it hard for us to just give her away to anyone that we don't know. We have been driving around around this area to see if anyone is looking for her but we have yet to find any signs which makes us think now that she's not wanted anymore.

If anyone out there that wants a puppy or knows or anyone that wants a puppy just let me know! We want to give her to someone that we absolutely trust will take good care of her.

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike came and gone..Thank God! I didn't really prepare anything for Ike because every time when they talk about any hurricane is doesn't really hit Houston. Well this time everyone was worried about this hurricane because its suppose to hit Houston. Ike was schedule to make land fall early Saturday morning. Thursday hubby and I went to the grocery store to attempt to stock up on food and water but were not really about too apart from stocking up on junk food. All the breads and tortilla shells and water were gone. People who have been to my house knows that I can live without doing groceries for quite some time so I didn't really need to buy anything. I managed to be online until about 1:00 something before the electricity was cut off. We were without electricity, Internet connection and limited cell phone coverage for more than a week! We only got our electricity back on Saturday around noon. Many places was not open and we had a curfew because there was no electricity in a lot of places hence no traffic lights etc. Thank god on Monday hub's company got a generator for him and we were about to watch some TV on Monday and see the damages Ike made. We were also able to run the refrigerator and freezer couple of hours every night.




Luckily for us we only had fallen branches and leaves around our yard some people were not so lucky. They had broken fence or even torn siding or shingles. All we had to do is clean our yard. I'm too lazy to blog about the detail of Ike therefore if anyone is interested to know more about Ike or the damages they can go here.

Char Kway Teow

After my Char Mee I was determine to make Char Kway Teow. I got stuff needed last weekend and have been itching to make it. I made Chee Cheong Fun two nights ago but was too hungry and did not take any pictures. The recipe to make Chee Cheong Fun is pretty similar to make Kway Teow that's why I attempted to make Chee Cheong Fun first. There is still plenty of room for imporvement with my Chee Cheong Fun. Hubby's only comment is that it needed some kind of meat. My comment is my Thim Cheong is too salty for me...
I was planning to make my Char Kway Teow tonight for dinner but after getting up this morning and not knowing what to eat I decided that I was going to make it there and then. I could not start on anything because I'm expecting some people to come look at the house and I was going to take Stanley out so he's not a pain in the butt (although he kind off still was). After they were gone I started on making my Kway Teow. I got so excited and distracted in making the Kway Teow that I made up another batch after almost done making the first batch. Since I made two batches it took me about 2 hours to make the Kway Teow. I don't have any regrets making the Kway Teow because I feel like the Kway Teow tastes better than the once we buy at the grocery store.

Flour Mixture

Steaming/Cooking

Kway Teow

*I've also decided to post the recipes in my own individual post instead of just linking the website where I got it from just in case anything happens to the other person's website then I would not be able to ever get the same recipe. My Kway Teow recipe was kind of taking from Sinner's website.

Home Made Kway Teow or Steamed Flat Rice Noodles
Ingredients

• 150 g Rice Flour
• 1-1/2 tbsp Wheat Starch Flour
  
• 2 tbsp Corn Flour
• 1/2tsp salt
  
• 1 tbsp Oil
• 400 ml water
  

1. Mix the rice flour, wheat starch and corn flour together. Add the water and stir continuously.
2. Add in the oil, salt and mix thoroughly.
3. Set the batter aside for.
4. Prepare your steamer.
5. When the water is boiling, ladle and spread a thin layer of batter onto the tray and steam for 4-5 minutes.
6. Remove the tray from the steamer and leave to cool slightly before using a scrapper to fold the kway teow. While waiting for the kway teow to cool, put in the next tray to steam. (I don't care to use the round baking pan I prefer to use stainless steel plates)
7. Cut into thin strips for fried kway teow. The noodle sheets can be kept in airtight containers in the fridge for a day or 2. (I froze the rest of the Kway Teow and I am planning to steam it again to soften it before using it the next time).

While steaming my flour mixture to Kway Teow I prepared the stuff needed for Char Kway Teow. I shelled the prawns (keeping the head etc because I'm planning to make prawn mee when I have enough to make prawn broth) chopped the other ingredients and shelled the cockles.

Char Kway Teow
Ingredients:
1/2 lb kway teow
1 tsp chopped garlic
3 tbsp cooking oil
3 - 5 prawns,
3 - 5 thinly sliced Chinese sausage
150g cockles, scalded and shelled (if available fresh then this is a must)
a handful of beansprouts
3 sprigs of chives, cut into 2 inch lengths
1 egg

Seasoning:
1 tbsp Chilli paste(sambal olek)
1 tbsp light soya sauce
Pepper to taste
A little dark soya sauce for colour
A little water

Method:

Heat wok with 3 tbsp oil until hot and fry Chinese sausages until fragrant, then add l tsp chopped garlic . Add prawns and fry until cooked.

Push all the fried ingredients to one side and add in kway teow. Stir-fry the kway teow and add seasoning and sprinkle with a little water to mix.

Spread all the ingredients around the kuali and create an empty space in the centre, then crack an egg into it and add a little more oil. Cover the egg with all the ingredients and stir-fry evenly. Add cockles if desired and mix in a handful of beansprouts and the chives. Do not overcook.

Remove the dish to a plate and serve hot.

My Kway Teow is almost there!!Almost like the once we can get at the hawker stall. It looked, smelled and almost taste like the once you eat at the hawker stall...I was so happy with my accomplishment and the kway teow taste lovely too. I also made double batch of this because I know I'm going to want to eat it again tonight and I was too lazy to make more later. *smirk*

DISASTER!!

Two days ago I had a craving for pineapple tart and I decided to try and make some. I started with making the filling with the directions from Lily's website. I was going to make the pastry skin yesterday because the filling had to be made a day before we use it. Yesterday we went to the gym and after dinner it got quite late so I decided to make it today. As I was looking through the website again I noticed that I forgot to put sugar in the pineapple filling (Disaster #1)! $^%$#. So today I proceeded to add the sugar in and recook the pineapple filling ( got to see how will this go since I messed up the first time) then while making the pastry and trying to follow every step of the direction my pastry didn't look like what Lily described in her blog (Disaster #2) $%^%* My pastry looked really wet for some reason so I added quite a bit of flour to it hoping that it'll be better. I am not sure how my pineapple tart wanna be will turn out but I'll post it up after it's done. Wish me luck here...I hope nothing goes to waste. I hate to waste food.

Update: So I didn't exactly follow Lily's recipe to the T but close. I just omitted the water and the coloring therefore my tart don't look yellowish...also I should warn that is not pretty like the once you buy from the store or order from people who bake cookies for Chinese New Year. Anyway..I'm not sure about the filling..it doesn't taste bad but I don't remember how the once from home taste like anymore however I have to say the pastry is DELICIOUS!...it actually melts in your mouth yummy...It's not a waste after all!!! Now if I could follow recipes accurately then it would be perfect. I would then be able to actually role the pastry out and shape it like I wanted to or make it look prettier instead of what you see!

Pineapple tart wannabe

Hope my ugly looking pineapple tart would not make you not want to eat pineapple tart anymore. Honestly is really not bad and I'm proud to say that..hahaha...at least is not going to end up in the garbage.

Char Kway Teow Mee

I love Char Kway Teow a ton and would eat it all the time but since is so oily I try and refrain myself from eating it all the time. Anyway I've not had the opportunity to eat that for a really long time and really do miss it. I do come across blogs of other people that's living overseas and tries to make all sorts of food from home but I'm always too lazy too lazy to try and it would be difficult for me to get the ingredients to make the stuff. Anyway there is a fellow blogger Lily that lives in the United States and is constantly making food for her family. I saw the recipe for Char Kway Teow and wanted to try it pretty bad. So when I went to the local grocery store last weekend I bought some beans sprout and was hoping I could run to the Asian grocery store to get the rest of the stuff needed to make that. I was also going to attempt to make my own kway teow because it doesn't seem that difficult to make. Anyway I didn't make it to the Asian grocery store last weekend because hubby was so very busy and I don't know yet how to get there myself..argghhh....

This morning I got up and didn't know what to eat. I really wanted to eat char kway teow but know that I don't have some of the ingredients for example the kway teow and cockles at home and I didn't want the beans sprout to go bad anytime so the smart me decided to substitute the kway teow for just mee. I was thinking why not since some people order mee instead or kway teow at the stall anyway.

My Char mee..

The out come of my noodles was I would say edible..Of course is not going to taste like the once at the hawker stall but there is still a ton of difference in terms of taste..I think I basically have the texture down but need to work on the taste..Maybe if I use a gas stove instead of electric stove the outcome would be different too..didn't quite satisfy my cravings but it did fill me up and I guess that's all that matter. I will try and work on this more and hopefully this time with kway teow and cockles.

I just cannot wait to go home and eat unhealthy food again!

Labor Day Weekend

It's Labor Day weekend meaning it's a 3day weekend...If I was working I'll be darn happy but since I'm not working now everyday tends to be pretty much the same but for hubby it's suppose to be a great time since he's been sooo busy with work lately unfortunately he's on call this weekend that means if any place has a problem he has to deal with it. He's been dealing with customers none stop since Friday. He didn't get home until 10pm on Friday night!!!So many things to do and he's so pissy because some people don't take care of their accounts well and when he gets a call he has to pick up after them. Most of his Saturday were spend working too. Aunt L and Uncle Richie came and pick me up to their place so that I could go look at the neighbour's house (house hunting) and hubby finally showed up while we were still there. I guess we don't mind it but it's really not a house where I'll go AHHHHHH or WHEEEEE when we walk into it. We haven't decided if we want that house or continue looking. Hubby likes the idea that Aunt and Uncle Richie is the neighbor so that he won't have to constantly worry about if he's out of town or if he's running late when he's working and also we actually know someone in the neighborhood. DECISION!DECISION!DECISIONS! I called mummy and daddy and spoke to them about the house and like normal they said that as long as it feels comfortable, we don't mind it and the price is not that steep it's up to us. They are very supportive in what I/we do. Ever since I graduated from high school they have always supported me no matter what and very rarely they will tell me No for anything so if they do say NO or DON'T DO IT then I really have to think about it because they always want us to make our own decision and be able to face the consequences. *faint* The nice thing about this house is there is nothing major we need to change about this house the only thing that needs changes almost immediately is the flooring. She basically maintain the house pretty well hence the higher price. I'm not sure if she's even willing to negotiate since she looks like she's not in any rush to sell the house. After looking at the house we went over to Aunt and Uncle Richie's place for a little while until hubby got another call. So we all waited for hubby in a newly opened Mexican Restaurant (no pictures because I'm shy to take pictures when we are with Aunt and Uncle but we are always with them so much that I should start anyway; let me pluck up the courage...LOL) I thought the food was alright and the price was comparable to most restaurant so it's not that bad.

Sunday we got up and decided to grill out for the day. We didn't want to go anywhere in case hubby had a call. Called SIL to see if she wanted to grill out and she said Yes so called Aunt and Uncle to see if they wanted to grill out. We were going to go over to Aunt and Uncle's place because they have a larger grill while we only have a tiny tiny one but then hubby decided that it'll be inconvenient since we have everything here so we just decided to have it at our place. We went to the grocery store to get some chicken and soda for the party then we went to the gym since we had time before the get together. Hubby got a call 3 hours before!!arghh...so I ended up doing most of the things..luckily I made the potato salad on Saturday because hubby wanted some and I promised him I'll make some for him so that saved me time and we were just going to have another side dish...the only time consuming thing was grilling the chicken and the charcoal went almost dead after the second round because I kept basting the sauce on the chicken hence putting the charcoal out. Second batch wasn't that done but hubby came back to take over and we decided our next grill we would probably get a gas grill..no more worrying out putting out the charcoal anymore...So we actually kind off hosted our first dinner party which I thought it was pretty good a success! I am thinking after we get a house we should do that more often. *smirk*

This morning hubby got what it sounds like a million calls that he has to deal with so he's now out working again...arghh..I want to go get some Asian groceries which is on hold because I don't know how to get there myself. I don't think he's going to have time to go to the gym today too so I think I'll just meet Aunt and Uncle there at the gym later...what a fun day huh!!Hopefully hubby can get done with work earlier(I doubt) and then we can actually do something together today!!!