Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving dinner was a success. The only problem I had was that the cooking didn’t really go out as I planned. We bought a smaller turkey this year and it cooked faster than planned so we had to call SIL and tell her that dinner would be earlier thus I was a little behind with my dinner rolls. My food actually turned out great and there was so much food left.
I am so glad that hubby is here to celebrate Thanksgiving with me. FIL, BIL and some of the other guys normally go up to the cabin to go deer hunting. Ever since I know FIL every year he’s really persistent on getting a deer every single year. He would go up to the cabin way before deer hunting season starts to scout out places that has lots of deer. Every year he would spend a lot of money preparing for deer hunting but not once got a deer. This year however he was lucky enough to get a deer the first day of deer hunting season. He was determine to get another deer but deer hunting season ends tomorrow so I doubt he would get one. I should inform FIL that Nikon is currently having a promotion on their long range shooting system then maybe he could get more than one deer if he quickly buys it. Hopefully FIL is quick enough to get this good deal.

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Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving people!!Will update soon...

Thanksgiving Day Menu

This year we will be our very first Thanksgiving in Houston. This is also the first year in hubby’s life that he’s not able to go deer hunting at all. I know he’s pretty sad about it but I hope that he’ll be alright eventually. I think he just miss hanging out with the guys ie FIL and BIL during those times.

We/I have a lot to be thankful for this year and because hubby cannot go deer hunting this year and will be celebrating thanksgiving (although ever since we’ve been together he normally skips that weekend and spend thanksgiving with me anyway) I’ve decided to try and make a yummy meal for him and our guests (SIL and her hubby).

Menu for Thanksgiving dinner:
Roast Turkey
Green Bean Casserole
Scallop Cheesy Potato
Cherry Pie - Done
Pumpkin Roll
Dinner Roll

*Everything is made from scratch except the Green Bean Casserole.

I'm trying to make as many things as I can in advance so that it'll not be so hectic on thanksgiving day. I can just make the turkey and the side dishes and not have to worry about so many different food I have to make on the actual day. So far I’ve made the Cherry Pie which for some reason the Pie Crust didn’t really work out this time however I still used what I could.

I’ve seen pumpkin rolls recipe here and there before and didn’t think of trying it because hubby never mentioned about it before then I was talking to Y and she said that she was going to make pumpkin rolls for her thanksgiving meal and is suppose to taste wonderful. I am not sure it’ll work out for me this first time but I just had to try it since it sounded so divine. I’m in the process of making the pumpkin roll so fingers cross that I don’t screw up quite that bad.

I wonder what else I should add?

Homemade Dog Biscuits

I've always wanted to make treats for Stanley ever since we got him but ever single time when we go out I'm always too busy thinking of stuff to buy and hubby will try and stop me so I'll always tell him Stanley needs treats. He'll be like didn't we buy it the last time and then I'll be like he needs different flavors. How do you like it if you always eat the same thing right? So he'll be fine with it but then now hubby very smart. He's seen my stashes of treat, raw hide and toys so now when we go out not allowed to get anything for Stanley unless something he absolutely needs.

Out of blues I decided to make some homemade treats. I figure since I'll be having the two monkeys might as well I make some healthy treats for both of them although Stanley still has a ton of treats and Aunt L bought some over for Bailey too.

I actually needed baby food for the recipe but then I don't have any. I was too lazy to get into the car and go get some baby food. So I cut and clean a few sticks of carrots and celery then proceeded to steam it. I thought steaming it would maintain the nutrient instead of boiling it in water. When it was soft enough I took it out and mashed it with my food processor (see how much I use it. I think is a good investment!lol). I actually added a couple of Strawberries because we had some left and I didn't want it to go to waste. It actually smelled really good for some reason

Pureed carrots, celery and strawberries

Then I used my KitchenAid mixer to mix the ingredients for the biscuits.

Baked cookies.

Ingredients:
3 Cups of whole wheat flour
3/4 Cup of rolled oats
1/2 cup powdered milk
1 egg
5 tbsp of oil
water as needed
2 cans/bottles/jar of baby food (any flavor, all natural and no preservatives)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
2. In a large bowl combine all ingredients together and make a thick dough.
3. Knead on a slightly floured countertop for about 4 minutes until the dough is nice and smooth.
4.Sprinkle a little more flour over the dough to make rolling easy.
5.Roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thickness.
6.Use cookie cutters or a small drinking glass.
7.Bake on a ungreased cookie sheet for about 22 minute.
8.Let doggie biscuits cool for at least 1/2 hr before serving.
9.To keep fresh, package these in sealed containers.

I don't really have much cookie cutter so I used what I had which was the heart and angel (Christmas)cookie cutter. My heart shape cookie cutter is from Wilton and the angel one is a cheap one and I find that is much nicer and easier to use the Wilton one. I would imagine all cookie cutter would work as good. I guess I should start looking for more Wilton cookie cutters

I know I'm going to hear about making cute cookies for the dogs when hubby gets home because I made him some almond cookies last week and it was not shaped at all. I didn't even bother to actually rolled it out really nice. I kind off just plop on the pan. Will blog about the almost cookies soon.

I think baking the biscuits for the two monkeys is all worth it. At least I know what is in it and I can give him more than a couple if I like.

p/s: If you don't want to make your own puree you can use apple sauce or peanut butter too.

Dog Sitter

Neighbor aka Aunt and Uncle Richie has escaped from this cold weather (we are suppose to get a cold front this week) to go Hawaii for a nice and warm vacation. I volunteered to watch all 3 monsters of theirs but they decided to put the two big monster at the boarding place. I am going to be watching Bailey (the dog we found after the Hurricane Ike). I will be having TWO MONSTERS for the whole month until they return in December! It'll be a lot of yelling and smacking for the both of them. Bailey and Stanley are both equally notorious! I do miss Bailey and I'm glad that she's just living next door. I am also glad that she and Stanley get along pretty good. Aunt Richie normally just let her and Stanley play together because the other two monster are quite large hence it'll be a havoc if all four of them played together!
I'm glad that we found an extremely good home for Bailey. Bailey is just so spoiled by Aunt Richie and Uncle Richie is just constantly complaining that she spoils him too much. I guess that's the other reason why she's not being put in the boarding place and it saves them money too.

Partners in Crime!!

Is going to be real interesting watching both of them. *faint* they are sure going to be a hand full and I am pretty sure I'll be happy to take her home when Aunt and Uncle Richie gets back.

Beef with flat rice noodle/Sap chow ngau hor

So last week I had craving to cook something with rice noodle. We were eating out a lot and I was pretty sick of eating out. I knew I had beef and choy sum in the refrigerator/freezer. I know that I didn't have any rice noodles/Kway Teow but I was not afraid because I knew how to make it. Well I made my kway teow but I still ended up putting it in the refrigerator that evening because we went out to eat again! Anyway the next day I was damned that we would go out and decided to try to cook my noodle. Apart from my home made kway teow I just followed Lily's instruction.

Ingredients:
A pkt of fresh hor fun/flat rice noodle
1/2 lb Beef fillet/sirlion - slice thinly across the grain
1/2 cup drained canned straw mushroom - cut into slices
1/4 cup sliced carrot
1/2 lb Choy sum - wash and cut into 2 inch lengths - put on a plate and microwave for 2 mins.
1/4 cup of sliced young gingers
Oil for frying beef and noodle
Marinate
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1/2 egg white
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp tapioca starch
2 tbsp water
2 tsp cooking oil
Gravy
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp cornstarch

Method:
Knead the marinate except the oil, thoroughly into the sliced beef and when well mixed, add in the oil and knead again. Leave to marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Fry the hor fun/flat rice noodles like you would for Wat Than Hor
Heat 1 cup oil and when it is hot, fry the beef by batches. Fry beef until 3/4 cooked.
Remove all the oil and leave 2 tbsp. Fry the ginger slices, then add in the beef and choy sum. Stir fry, then add in the gravy ingredients. Cook gravy thickens and pour over the noodles.

Serve hot.

* Since I made my own kway teow and and to refrigerate it just quick nuke it in the microwave to soften it. The texture is almost like the once I buy from the oriental store.

I am not too happy with my results. I'm pretty sure number one is because my pan not seasoned. Hubby is not to keen with this noodle too. I am not sure does this make a difference but I did marinate the beef 24hrs because I didn't get to cook it that day and only had a chance to cook it the next day therefore I found the beef a little too salty (I am not too keen on eat very salty)I kind off think I messed up some where I'm pretty sure is supposed to taste better! I might decided to try this again.

Pie Crust II

Hubby lurvesss pies especially apple pie. Every time when we go to the store he'll want to buy an apple pie however he will refrain himself because he knows that I don't really care for it when he buy the pies at the store because is normally full of sugar and is always over priced anyway. I don't really do any baking in the Summer because is already so hot hence I don't really want to increase the heat in the house by baking. However I love to bake in fall, winter and spring because the heat from the over will help warm the house up. Since it's been pretty cool this few weeks I've been keeping myself busy in the kitchen. I've been trying to find/experiment with the pie crust recipes because I want to find a pie crust recipe that will work with sweet pies and meat pies. The reason is when I make my chicken pot pie I like to keep some of the gravy from the chicken pot pie but so far the pie shells (except the ready made once from the store) that I've made will absorb all my gravy thus making my chicken pot pie dry.

So far the Pie crusts have tasted pretty good but I do not dare to try making chicken pot pie with it because I'm afraid it'll be dry. On another note...I absolutely heart my food processor. I had been itching to get a food processor that I could use to make pie dough too and when we were up North after a very very long time of looking I finally decided to get one. I barely use my food processor at that time because I had a small kitchen when I was living up North. When I moved down here I finally decided to use my food processor to make dough but to my horror there was no dough blade! I was really pissed by then because I researched and researched on which food processor to get and I purposely got the Black and Decker Pro II so that I could make dough/pie crust (yes I'm dumb even though I have a KitchenAid mixer sitting on my counter). I was freaking out too because it's been like 1 year plus since I bought the food processor and I didn't think that they would replace the dough blade for me. I made up so many stories in my head so that when they ask me I can tell them smoothly a story but they just asked me some numbers and told me that they would send me the dough blade. At that time I was just relieved (lurvee Black and Decker customer service) but I did complain to hubby that they didn't even question me and I spend so many time thinking of all different stories to tell them and I didn't even have to use them!Anyway I really love how easy to make my pie crust with the food processor. I have been making up batches of pie crust or grinding food and mincing meat with my food processor. Is so convenient!!

Last weekend we looked high and low for little pie pan so that hubs can have little pies (like in the restaurants)

I decided to make a smiley.

Pie Crust
Ingredients
2 C of Flour
1/2 tsp of salt
2 tbsp of sugar (if making sweet pie)
1/2 C of shortening
1/4-1/2C of butter
1/2 C of ice cold water
1.Chill everything you will be using in the fridge/freezer.
2.(Because I'm using my food processor) Put flour, sugar and salt in the food processor and mix it.
3. Add shortening and butter.
4. Pulse it until it resemble like pea size.
5. Add water a table spoon at a time and pulse until it becomes a huge ball.
6. Separate it and wrap with cling wrap. Refrigerate it at least 4 hours or overnight (this process ease the rolling process).

* you want to work the dough as little as possible because the lease you handle the dough the flakier it gets.
** After pulsing several times if it still doesn't stick together I normally just take it out and knead it to a big ball.
***My second batch I didn't have time to refrigerate it and I did have a difficult time to roll it out. If you have a difficult time rolling it and putting it on the pie pan; roll it between parchment paper or cling wrap.

Hubby loves this pie crust but he loves all the pie crust that I've made so far so I would have to see if it works with the chicken pot pie. It's still a keeper anyhow! Everyone wanted a piece of the pie that I didn't even have time to take a picture of it after came out of the oven.

RIP Lucky...

It was a pretty devastating day for me yesterday because BIL and his girlfriend's dog - Lucky passed away. I felt really bad because I know how BIL's gf loves the dog.

Lucky was abused when he was growing up. He would not get along with another dogs. We tried and allow Stanley and Lucky to get to know each other but Lucky just would not want to play with Stanley while Stanley would try and play with her and she would try and nip Stanley so after several times we stopped trying to put both of them together. Hence I don't even have a picture of Lucky!

I just feel bad because she has not had a good life until BIL and gf adopted her. They had her almost the same time that we have Stanley meaning about 1.5 years. They had to move out of their rental because it was infested with mold. Both of them are currently staying with PIL's family and could not have Lucky with them so they put her with BIL's gf's parents house. Lucky didn't really eat at the beginning and BIL's gf decided to spend the night with Lucky hoping that Lucky would eat. When she was there Lucky was just banging into things and the next morning which was yesterday morning they decided to take her to the Vet. The vet said that Lucky is blind and she might have brain damage. The vet can run test and stuff but was not sure if they can find anything plus is going to cost a lot of money. So they decided that is best to put Lucky to sleep. The vet said that they could do an autopsy and see what happened to see if they can find anything but again is going to cost a lot of money. They just said forget it since Lucky is already gone.

I've been quite traumatize by this incident because I am so afraid that anything can happen to Stanley. I love Stanley so much that I never want anything to happen to Stanley. I was cuddling with Stanley yesterday and told him that Lucky is gone which I don't think he'll understand. Hubby said poor Stanley because he doesn't like to be held down (being cuddle at the time)..LOL..I talked to hubby and see if there is a way we could monitor Stanley in case anything happens to him but he said that is difficult because Stanley is not human and he cannot tell us if something is wrong or if he's got blur vision or anything! Hubby said that all we can do is if we see any behavior changes in Stanley we should take him to the vet which dog lover aunt and uncle Richie agreed.

Is been clearer to me that life is so fragile that we should appreciate life more and more. We cannot take any living people or animals for granted. I just hope that Lucky rest in peace and know that we will miss him and love him no matter where he is. Let's hope that he has a better life when she reincarnate.

Piggy me!!

I think I gained weight this weekend. I have just been eating and eating and eating. Every meal I eat I eat like a horse, like is my last chance to eat (I shall blame it on the PMS)

Anyway I started my eating marathon on Saturday after we decided that we were going to have dim sum for brunch..As usual greedy me/us order so much and stuffed my face! I then headed to the Asian grocery store to buy some groceries. After that we drove around in the beltway (since we haven't really driven around here after being here for 4 months now) then found some stores and decided to walk for a few hours to hopefully burn some calories off...blekkk...sales wasn't great nothing attracted me hence came home empty handed except from groceries...We started getting hungry when we got home and I made myself a huge bowl of noodles with chicken and vegetable...I thought about it also made me think that I am really a PIG!!

Uncle Richie called and asked if we wanted to watch a movie that night and we were going to watch the James Bond movie but found out that it wasn't starting until next week and we decided to watch Max Payne which completely sucks and we would not recommend it to anyone. There was this kid at the cinema was making noise at the beginning of the movie and it actually irritated me so every time when he made noise I said shhhhh....eventually in the middle of the movie him and his friend were actually ask to leave/ushered out by the security guard.

When we were walking to the cars something which I think really cool happened (Yes I'm sick) There was a ton of kids hanging outside the cinema (don't know where their parents are) but anyway way we saw a security officer/police cuffing a boy and he told his parents to cuff another one..I was like wow..wonder what they did and I walked really slow to try and hear what happened but Uncle Richie nudge me to move faster and we were just laughing at the whole scene like how we will not go back and watch a night movie at that cinema because apparently people get locked up!

Sunday morning I decided to make some waffles because Uncle and Auntie Richie bought me a waffle maker for my birthday and I decided to try it out. I am not sure whether did I not follow the direction correctly or because the waffle maker is still new didn't taste like how I expected it to be hopefully with a little more practice it'll be like the once we eat at the hotels.

Then I went to the Galleria with Uncle and Aunt Richiee..We walked a little bit and we stopped at LaMadeline and ate again..I had a huge plate of Chicken Cesar Salad which was really awesome!Aunt and Uncle said their soups are bad ass too!!We stopped by a couple of open houses which was just beautiful and expensive before headed home...

Hubby didn't eat anything after I left and I was planning to make Hokkie Mee all along for dinner. I wasn't sure if he was going to eat it but I was just going to make it anyway. HokkienMee AKA Black Mee is one of my all time favorite food. I didn't know that it was called HokkienMee when I was growing up so I would always call it Black Mee...The last time I ate black mee was the time I went home about 3 years ago which also didn't taste good at all. So when I was at the Asian grocery store I was already looking for Lily's for ingredients needed to make this.

The only two picture I managed to take this whole weekend before inhaling them!

Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Mee

Ingredients:

500g fat yellow hokkien noodles (tai lok meen) - soak noodles in cold water for 15 mins to get rid of some of the potassium carbonate & sodium bi-carbonate solution used to make these noodles. (I could not find this kind of noodles here so I used Udon noodles instead)
100g meat (pork or chicken) - cut into thin slices
150g prawns, shell and devein
100 g squid - cut into bite size
1tsp of garlic chopped
100g Choy sum wash and cut into 1 inch pieces
100g pork fat, cut into cubes and fried till crispy (keep the oil)
2 cups stock/water

Seasoning:

1 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce(add more if not dark enough)
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp monosodium glutamate(optional)

Method:

Season the prawns and squid with a dash of salt, sugar and pepper.

Heat 2 tsp of the lard (from frying the pork fat) and saute the squid and prawns. Dish out and leave aside.

Add in another tsp of lard, garlic and brown meat, sprinkle in a pinch of salt and pepper to the meat before turning over to brown the other side.

Add in stock/water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes before adding in the choy sum.

Then add in the noodles and the seasoning, mix well, cover wok with lid and simmer until noodles is tender. Add more dark soy sauce if the color is not black enough and simmer noodles till gravy is thick.

Add in the cooked prawns and squid and more lard.

Turn the heat to high again and give noodles a quick stir. Add the crispy lard cubes before dishing up the noodles.

p/s: I love garlic and the only difference with my mee is I added garlic to it.

Serve with sambal belacan

sambal belacan:

5 fresh red chillies - cut small
2 chilly padi(optional)
1 sq inch x 1/4 inch thick raw belacan or 2 tsp belacan powder.
a pinch of salt
a pinch of sugar
lime juice.

Grill raw belacan until it is dried and fragrant. (i will wrap with paper kitchen towel and microwave 1 minute at the time until it can be crumbled)

I do not own a mortar so i use the chopper. Chop everything up except the lime juice.

serve with lime juice. adjust the taste as some belacan can be very salty.

I didn't make the sambal belacan because I was lazy..I just ate my noodles with chili padi.

My verdict: It was not how I expected. I guess I was hoping to taste like the once we eat at the hawker store back in Malaysia. My pan is not seasoned and this is my first time however apart from not tasting like the hawker store it was really good. I really liked it. The udon noodles I used turned pretty soft so I might have to find another brand or another kind. It was the very first time in my entire life cutting/slicing squid it was so funny because I didn't know what to throw away and what to keep.Hubby didn't know anything too so I just kind off figure it out but I'm not sure if is right. I'm going to have to call mummy and ask her and double check with her that I didn't waste any parts.

Since I was the only one eating there was about two medium size container left. If I would have eaten like a lady (not eat enough for 2) I would have more left. I cannot wait to try it again..I just miss my Hokkien Mee soo much. The last time I went home I think I only at it once or twice and they were not very good so I am hoping that I can find a good one when I get home..yummyyyyyyy

Busy Beeee

I skipped gym yesterday because I was busy...well...lazy...but I did however kept myself busy in the kitchen...

I started by making Braid Bread. I got the recipe from Chow Times. It's actually called Raspberry Braid but I didn't have Raspberry Jam.

Braid Bread

Instead of dividing it into two I made 4 from my dough

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/4 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon yeast

Filling:

• 1/4 cup raspberry jam (or any Jam)
  
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted - cooled

Topping:

• 1 tablespoon butter, soft
• 2 tablespoons white flour
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Prepare the dough using the first 7 ingredients using your bread machine dough cycle setting. (I left the dough sit in the bread machine to rise for another 1 hour).
2. Roll each half of the dough into a 14″ x 9″ rectangle. Make diagonal cuts from outer edges one inch apart and three inches long.
3. Spread 1/4 cup raspberry jam lengthwise down the center third of the rectangle.
4.Fold alternate strips of dough over filling.
5.Place the braid on a greased baking sheet or parchment lined baking sheet.
6.Brush the braid with melted, cooled butter.Cover and let rise for 30 minutes or until double in volume.
7.Use a fork to mix the topping ingredients together until the mixture is grainy like.
8.Sprinkle half of the topping over each dough braid. Bake the braids at 350F for 25-30 minutes.

I used the Kaya that I made and Strawberry Jem because that's what I had on hand. I also skipped the topping because I was lazy.

Verdict: It turned out really pretty good (me)
: Uncle Richie loved it but not the Kaya one.


I had a craving for Chicken Rice this week and I knew that hubby would not care for the steamed chicken so I decided to make Roast Chicken instead. I got my recipe from Lily which turned out really good.

Roast Chicken

Ingredients:

5 - 6 LBS roasting chicken
3 tbsp margarine/butter - softened
1 clove garlic - minced
lemon juice for rubbing
5 spice powder/montreal steak/whatever rub you prefer
salt and pepper

Method:

Salt and pepper the inside of chicken and sprinkle with spice rub.

Cream together margarine/butter and garlic.

Turn chicken breast side up and work your fingers under the skin at the openings on each side of the breast. Continue into thigh and leg and make the skin as smooth as possible. Using fingers, spread margarine/butter mixture evenly under skin.

Rub the skin with lemon juice and sprinkle with more spice rub.

Place chicken, breast side up on rack and truss the legs.

Put the chicken in the oven for 450 degree for about 20 minutes and turned it down to 400 degree until cooked.

Then I made the Hainanese Rice

HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE

3 tbsp oil/margarine/chicken oil
1 tbsp chopped garlic and shallots
1/2 tbsp chopped ginger
3 cups rice, washed and drained
4 1/2 cups chicken stock(use the stock from the above)
1 tsp salt to taste

METHOD

Heat up oil, saute chopped garlic and shallot and ginger until fragrant. Add rice, salt and mix well. Dish into a rice cooker, add chicken stock and taste(add more salt if required). Leave to cook until dry and fluffy.

I made my Chili using Sinner's recipe because it was so easy

Ingredients for Chilli Sauce
2 tbsp Siracha chilli sauce
1 tsp lime juice
1 tbsp chicken stock
1 tsp ginger juice

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients together
(I skipped the ginger juice because I didn't have any and I used this recipe for the chilli sauce because I didn't have any fresh chilli on hand).

Verdict: Hubby loved the chicken he doesn't really care for the rice as usual (he's not a rice person)
: I'm happy with my chicken rice..is simple and yummy..

I top off with some stir fried vegetables. I used the stock from the chicken to stir fry my vegetables and it was yummy too...We didn't have any cucumber on hand because normally cucumber is served with chicken rice.

p/s: I know I have to really really work on the presentation. My presentation is like F-!Sorry for not decorating my food...no mood to decorate the food just wanna eat it straightaway!LOL

Shopping for my Halloween Costume

I have never dressed up for Halloween before and this year was not different. We never have any kids knock on our door before but this year we had a couple of kids that came to our door. Since I’ve never dressed up in a Halloween costume before I was thinking maybe next year I should dress up as a police women. I can easily shop for my police gear at the comfort of my own home because I found this cool website that sold anything and everything I will need.


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