Homegrown Eggplant II

I eggplant has been producing more eggplant. I've had about 5 eggplants since my last harvest. I had to throw away 2 because I didn't pick the eggplants and I don't think that is edible anymore so I threw the 2 in the decomposing bin. I quickly picked up the 3 eggplant that looks edible.


My plants are actually growing pretty good every since I try to water my plants more. Even my ONLY tomato plants is producing tomatoes. So far 3 ripe ones and more in the plant. My chili plants are producing a lot of yummy chilies too..

The weather is summer to get below freezing this Friday and Saturday night and early morning I'm going to have to take in the plants or cover them. Hopefully I'll remember to move my lazy butt to bring in all the plants if I still want them to grow.

My battle with making pie crust....

I've been making pie crust for a couple of years now and I've been trying many different recipes out there. Anyone that says that they can never make pie crust but this or that recipe works for them I'm there trying it. Almost all the pie crust I've tried making taste pretty good so what's the problem? The problem is that I have a hell of a time rolling the pie crust. You might wonder why not make no roll pie crust. I need to make pie crust that's easy to roll like the ones you get from the grocery store because most of the time when I make a pie I normally need a crust for the top so I'm going to need to roll it out so that I can top the pie with crust hence no roll pie crust will not work for me.

I've tried everything I've read from refrigerating the food processor, making sure the shortening/butter is very cold to freezing/refrigerating the dough and make sure is very cold before I roll it out. I've also tried now pulsing my dough less but nothing works. Every single time I roll out my dough it cracks and I have to put it together like a jigsaw puzzle. Today I rolled out my pie crust between two wax paper and the side still cracked or broken like puzzle!

I'm wondering why people can have such success with the same recipe while I fail to have the same success.

Pie Crust

Ingredients
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter flavor shortening, chilled
1/4 cup plus 2tablespoons ice water (As needed)

Method
1. Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium size bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in the cold shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons ice water over flour. Toss mixture with a fork to moisten, adding more water a few drops at a time until the dough comes together.
2. Gently gather dough particles together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling. (I put mine in the freezer for a several hours)
3. Roll out dough, and put in a pie plate. Fill with desired filling and bake.

This is a really good recipe. I was able roll it between two wax paper and the middle was great but the edges were cracking like a puzzle and I had to put it together like a puzzle too..How can I make a pie crust that rolls out like the once we get from the grocery store. Any comment, suggestion or any idea is welcome! Thanks!!!

Sweet Potato Casserole

Uncle Richie brought over some ribs for me to cook on Sunday but it was so frozen that we knew that it would not thaw in time for me to cook it on Sunday night so we decided to eat it on Monday instead. I started the ribs in the evening late because I was on the phone and I forgot to turn on the oven also I misread the direction hence we didn't have dinner until pretty late (it all worked out because hubby came home late).

I made garlic mashed potatoes for our thanksgiving meal so I'm almost out of potatoes. I have one potato left so I would not and didn't want to make a potato dish. I had some sweet potatoes and I decided to make sweet potatoes instead. I hubby don't like sweet potatoes so I don't normally buy sweet potatoes but I am intending to make some sweet potato bread and I know sweet potato is suppose to be healthier for us so I just bought some even though I knew that hubby won't eat them.

This don't look that appetizing but trust me is GOOD!

Ingredients
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes (about 3-4 medium ones)* I steamed my potatoes to maintain the nutrient
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
1/4 cup margarine, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Topping

2 tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup chopped walnut
1/3 cup margarine, melted
Mini Marshmallows

Method
1. In large mixing bowl,mix sweet potatoes,sugar,eggs,margarine,milk and vanilla.
2. Pour into 9 inch square greased baking dish.
3. Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over potatoes.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes .
5. Sprinkle marshmallows the last 15 minutes of baking. (I had too much marshmallows and it got burned a little)

* If you are not going to add marshmallows at the end u should top the topping sugar to about 1/2cup-1cup.

Aunt L and Uncle Richie loves this dish. I was surprise myself that it was good too! Uncle Richie loves it so much that he intends to make this dish again this weekend. Towards the end of the meal we made hubby try some and he actually liked it! So I guess that this can be an approval meal in our house from now onwards.

Target update!

I got up today and I thought that I should not be waiting for Target District Manager to call me. So by noon since he hasn't called (I know his assistant said that he'll call me latest by Tuesday) I called him and his assistant told me that he was out at the stores. He said that he told me that the DM was going to be calling me latest by Tuesday so I then told the assistant that if I don't hear by from the DM by Tuesday he should be ready to give me the Area Manager name and number.

Not even 30 minutes after that I got a call from the DM. He wanted to know what happen and I told him the whole story. He apologized to me and he didn't try to stand up for his employees which I am really happy because that would piss me off even more. It makes me feel like he acknowledge his store's mistake. He told me that he spoke to the store manager to understand the whole situation. I did ask him what the store manager told him but he didn't want to tell me.

Anyway he assure me that Target cares about their customer and they care about their customer service. He said that he just took over this position (which was a classic excuse I think) and he's trying to make the store better. He'll try and improve the customer service of his stores.

The end result was he is going to send me a $15 gift card. I think it was a little cheap of them to send me a $15 gift card but then I thought about it that I was not expecting anything when I went to complain to the store manager. If he would have did his job right they would not even need to give me anything. I was not expecting anything anyway but since they were going to give me a $15 gift card I figured what the heck. I didn't want to ask for more and sound greedy too. Although I was given a $15 gift card I would definitely NOT go back to the same store! It was a little something but I thought it was better than nothing. At least I got to give a piece of my mind to the DM and he didn't make it sound as though he was trying to stand up for his employees. Hopefully no body will need to go though the same thing I did at Target because it was a really frustrating situation. What a waste of my time to need to call here and there!

Target and their extremely horrible customer service!

Target had some great deals for small kitchen appliances for their black friday sale. So on Friday morning the hubs and I headed to Steeplechase Target which was a huge mistake to see if they had it there when we get there. I've had horrible customer service at this Target when I went there the last time but decided to go there again because there was a Home Depot there and a WalMart there which we wanted to go so I suggested going to Steeplechase since some of the stores we wanted to go was there. I've not been back there ever since my last incident but decided to give it another chance. So hubby dropped me off at Target while he went to Home Depot to get his own stuff.

When I first got there I went straight to the small kitchen appliance area looking for the mini crockpot I wanted which was selling for $3.00 but could not see any and I asked a Sales Associate there which she told me there was none left. I decided to walk around and got a couple of stuff and walked back to the small kitchen appliance area to see if they had any that someone returned of left because they changed their mind. When I was there a guy carted a bunch of small kitchen appliances and I saw one crockpot there. I was excited because I was the only customer there and was about to take it when a female sales associate took it and scan it on her little computer which she had so I assumed that she was just doing inventory or something to make sure that the store computer system knew that there was one left. When she was done I asked her for it because I was still the only one there which she replied to me that she was holding it for a customer. I was like what? How can you hold a black friday item for a customer plus there was no one else there except me. The item was not there before and since it just came the customer would not know that the item would be there right? I told her that it was wrong for her to hold it for a customer since it was a black friday sale and she then rudely said here you take it then! I was then so pissed I said NO I'm not going to take this if she wants to hold it for her customer she can have it and I left all my stuff there. I was so angry at that time but she already walked away. The guy sales associate was still standing there with another sales associate. So I asked the guy what was her name and I was going to complaint to the store manager. He told me he didn't know her name! I was like how can you not know her name when you were talking to her and I heard you calling her name when he first carted the items there. He refused to tell me the name so I just asked the other female sales associate there where was the store manager and stormed off to the store manager.

When I went to the store manager I was very polite and nice to him. I told him the whole story and told him that I thought it was wrong for her to hold the item for a customer. His explanation to me was that the customer must have just walked away to the rest room or some where and she was just holding it for the customer. I told him that there was none of the item there to begin with and I was the only one there when the guy carted the items to that area so how could she hold it for a customer? Since it was a black friday sale I don't think that there would be any keeping of an item for the customer it would be first person to come the first person to get it. I also said that she was RUDE to me too. Then I said when I asked for the rude sales associate name the guy sales associate told me that he doesn't know her name which was bull shit because when he first carted the items he called her name and talked to her! The store manager stupid excuse was that there is a lot of new employees so everyone doesn't know everyone's name. I then told him that they talked and I heard him calling her name so I'm sure he knows her name. Then the store manager proceed to tell me that is a busy friday morning. Do I look like I care that is a busy friday morning? I was so very pissed off that time and the store manager offered to check me out. I told him I'm NOT buying anything there and walked away.

When I got out I told hubby all about it and he was very supportive about this incident even though he's non confrontational. I told him that I would call the District Manager to complain because the store manager was no help and didn't even make the situation better. I'm so surprise that hubby didn't try and stop me because he thinks that they are wrong this time again.

When I called the store to ask for the DM's number and name the girl connected me to the store manager again because she didn't know the DM's name or number. The store manager didn't make any more attempt to apologized what so ever and just gave me the name and number (uncle Richie says that he knew he screwed up). I called the number and the DM's assistant said that the DM was out all day. I told the assistant what happened and he told me that he'll get the DM to call me back either Monday or latest Tuesday. I told hubs that if I don't hear from the DM by Tuesday I would call the Area Manager or who ever that is higher post than the DM.

Urgghhh...This whole incident makes me so piss off because I've gotten horrible service the last two times I was there. The last time I was there was in March and I never went back there. I've been to other Target several times but not this Target. For sure I will not go to this Target again and depending on what happens I might or might not ever go to Target again.

Who ever that is living in Houston, TX do not go to this Target because they have extremely horrible customer service there! I hope that the same incident will not happen to anyone else because they are so rude to you and I feel like they don't respect their customer at all and if they don't why should I go there and spend my money there.

Orange Cupcakes

When I made my condensed milk pound cake Uncle Richie didn't come over that evening so I didn't give him any. He would not let me go because he didn't get any..LOL..so when hubby flew back up North to visit his family I send home some banana bread and condensed milk pound cake with him. I told him to leave it there when he comes home so that they can eat it instead. When hubby got home I asked if he left everything there which he told me he left the banana bread there but he took home the pound cake with him. I asked him why didn't he leave the pound cake there to which he replied that it was his! Although the pound cake was a little dense and was not as soft and fluffy as it was suppose to be but he still loves it to bits so he didn't want to leave it at his parents.

Anyway I told Uncle Richie that hubby refused to leave the pound cake there opss...and he kept going on and on about how he didn't get any..lol..so I quickly went to my kitchen and see what I had. I found two oranges which hubby bought and didn't eat and remembered that I saw a recipe for these cupcakes and decided to use up hubby's oranges.

Orange Cupcake recipe adapted here

Ingredients

120g softened unsalted butter
135g caster sugar
185g self raising flour
125ml orange juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

3 tbsp grated orange zest
shredded orange zest to decorate


Method
Preheat oven to 180deg C/350deg F
Put all ingredients except orange zest in a bowl with electric mxier on low speed for 2 min.
Then increase speed for another 2 min until smooth and pale.
Add orange zest. Stir briefly.
Divide mixture into muffin cups and bake for 20 min or till golden brown.
Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

To make icing, simply beat 60g of softened butter using electric beater till pale. Then add in 60g of icing sugar and 1 tbsp orange juice.

Spread over the muffin when muffins are cooled, and decorate with more zest on top if desired.

* I had some whipped cream that I whipped when I had extra heavy cream. I thaw my whipped cream and add some orange juice to it for my frosting.

The cupcakes were a little dense like my pound cake. I think I over mixed my flour again! Next time I will just use a spatula and mix it. However this recipe is a keeper and is also so simple to make. Uncle Richie gave this two thumbs up! :)

A visit to the podiatrists

Hubby's foot has been hurting him since we move down here and we actually have no idea why. We told Aunt L about it and she recommended a podiatrists to hubby. The doctor that hub visited showed hubs some stretching exercise and say that it would help him. Hubby is still waking up with pain in his feet and if he stand or walk a little off will actually hurt him. Too bad Dr. Les Glubo do not practice here hence hubby is not able to go to his clinic for a consultation if not I am sure Dr. Les Glubo would be able to help him. Dr. Les Glubo not only could help patients with problems with their foot hurting but he offers toe nail fungus treatments as well. Dr. Les Glubo practices in Manhattan and for who ever that is living there or even near that I would recommend you to go see him if you need to see a podiatrists because he's know to offers complete, compassionate podiatry in Manhattan.

A complete meal

For the past few weeks I've rarely cooked any elaborate meal because hubby will be going on vacation soon hence he's super busy at work trying to get his work done before he leaves for vacation hence coming home pretty late every night. By the time he comes home he's too tired to care what to eat. Sometimes I would have already had my dinner so it would just him eating what ever that's available or when he would be home some what decent time we would just go out and grab something to eat.

Since I have a whole chicken in my freezer and the weather is so chilly this two days I decided I would make something to warm the house up. The night before I took the chicken out to thaw so that the next morning I could get it ready to use it. It was still frozen inside even though it has been out since last night!

This is what I made for dinner last night:
Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken
Carrots
Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken adapted from here

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, skinned (4-5 pounds)
2 tsp kosher salt (if you'd like it as salty as the ones in the store, add another 1 tsp.)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper
pinch of chili pepper (probably not necessary)

4 whole garlic cloves (optional)
1 yellow onion, quartered (optional)

Method

1. I used a 6 quart crockpot for a 5 pound bird. It fit nicely. Put about 4-5 aluminum balls in the crockpot. (You will put your chicken on the aluminum balls this is suppose to help make the chicken crispy)

2. Clean Chicken and pat dry with paper towel.

3. In a bowl, combine all of dried spices. Rub the spice mixture all over the bird, inside and out. Plop the bird breast-side down into the crockpot.

4. If desired, shove 4 whole garlic cloves and a quartered onion inside the bird.

Do not add water.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 8. The meat is done when it is fully cooked and has reached desired tenderness. The longer you cook it, the more tender the meat.

Glazed Carrots

Ingredients

4-6 carrots, peeled and sliced or baby carrot, whole
2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Method
1. Steam Carrots (to retain the nutrition and moisture) until desire doneness.
2. Melt butter and brown sugar. Stir in ground ginger.
3. Add sauce to carrot and stir to coat.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients
2-3 baking potatoes (depending on how large your potatoes)
4-5 cloves of garlic
Milk (the amount of milk depends on how creamy you want your potato to be. More milk if you want creamier potato)
2 TBSP butter
cheese (I used one slice of cheddar cheese slice if you have others like shredded cheese you could use 1/2C of shredded cheese)
salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Boil potatoes with garlic until potatoes are done or desired tenderness.
2. Add butter, milk and cheese and mash them up together. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. (I like to use seasoned salt)

The chicken was taste and moist. It literally fall off the bone yummy. Hubby and I ate almost half of the chicken. I forgot to add salt when I mixed the seasoning together so I just sprinkled some seasoned salt on the chicken after I put it in the crockpot.

The carrots and mashed potato was super yummy it went well with the chicken and was easy to prepare.

I deboned the chicken and froze it to make another dish with it some day. I'm so happy to be able to serve a complete, nutritious yet simple meal in a nick of the time.

The reason why I love my crockpot is because I can put everything inside and just let it do its thing and a meal would be ready when you want to eat. I use my crockpot all the time when I was working because I would have a meal ready after work and I've not use my crockpot in a long time since I have more time now. I think every household should have a crockpot if they have no time to cook.

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

I don't normally use condensed milk but since I tried making Pai Pau I still had more condensed milk left although I've already made pai pau 3 times. I remember seeing recipes for condensed milk pound cake when I was blog surfing some time ago so I decided to try making it to use up most of my condensed milk that I have left.

Recipe adapted from here

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

Ingredients
120g Butter (good quality butter)
55g Sugar * I used about 40 g (I accidentally use brown sugar)
1/4 Tsp Salt
1-1/2 Tsp Vanilla Essence
1/2 Cup Condensed Milk

120g Cake Flour
3/4 Tsp Baking Powder

*Sift together

2 Eggs

Method
1) Grease a 8 x 3-1/2 inch loaf pan and preheat oven to 170 deg.C.

2) In a bowl, using an electric whisk, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in salt, vanilla essence and condensed milk, whisk till incorporated.

3) Stop to add flour. I roughly used the whisk to mix and dampen the flour before turning back on (you don't want the flour to fluff up), whisk using low speed. Scrap down the sides and whisk till the batter is smooth and not lumpy.

4) Add in the eggs, 1 at a time, whisk well. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake at 170 deg.C for 1 hour. I baked it at 325 deg F for about 45 minutes.

I am not sure if I over whisk my batter when I was adding the flour. My cake was a little dense however it tasted pretty good. It could be because I didn't add enough sugar that might be the cause of it. Hubby took a bite of it and said that it was very good. At first he asked for some strawberry glaze or something to go with the pound cake but I told him this is not Angel Food Cake deal that goes with Strawberry glaze etc. He hesitated to take a bite but quickly mentioned that it was yummy. He then requested to take some to work the next day. I am not sure is it because I didn't put enough sugar or I accidentally use brown sugar but my pound cake was not as sweet as I thought it would be. I've read a lot of comments that this is a good pound cake but is a too sweet for them. I don't eat sweet stuff too and I thought it was just nice and it could be a little less sweet but this is nice too. I will try this recipe soon using not changing anything and see the difference.

I am also not sure if I over baked it a little. My cake didn't rise as much as other people's that's most likely because I think my pan is a wee bit bigger compared to others. I might also need to reduce my baking time the next time I'm making it so I won't over bake it. It is however a wonderful recipe and I will make it again.

The hunt for food begin again!

I've had problem decided what to feed the boys ever since I got Stanley. I didn't want to buy crappy food so I did a bunch of research and bought Canidae for Stanley. I cannot just buy Canidae from any pet store I have to go to specific pet store to buy them. When we were living up North there was only one pet store that sold Canidae which was not a problem but I wanted to give Stanley food that is good for him and is not filler food that I can get from a normal pet store like Petco and Petsmart. Anyway I changed him to Nutro which was not bad but hubby didn't like him eating Nutro because he said that he had loose stool so when he was done with Nutro we changed him back to Canidae again.

Is time to buy dog food again now so we went and google Canidae so we can locate a store to buy them. Well we happen to come across consumer report and lately there are a lot of customers complaining about Canidae because they changed their ingredients and pets were scratching, having lose stool etc. Well those symptoms fits Stanley's symptoms!So hubs said that Stanley's problem might be because we are again feeding him Canidae. Stanley started scratching like crap ever since we moved down here but also eating Canidae. Thinking Canidae might not fit Stanley we are trying to decide which brand we should get for them now. We were thinking to try either Evo, Innova or California Natural. The boys are almost out of food hence we decided to locate a dealer that's close to our house so we can buy them some food. The owner recommended California Natural for dogs that has loose stool and scratch a lot so we bought that. Yupp another new brand of food! I will need to monitor both boys when we officially switch them to their new food. I even took a bunch of samples to see if any other brand would fit them. Hubby bought a tub of meat (looks like Jimmy Dean's sausage) for the boys too.

I'm hoping that changing the new food will prevent both of them from scratching like crazy (initially I thought it was allergy) it might still be allergies but we'll have to see if it does anything to Stanley's stool. Hopefully I don't have to go through the process of hunting for dog food anytime again. Every single time when they eat a brand several bags we decide to change their food! I guess in a way is good so they won't get sick of their food.

Sick Hubby

I bathed Milo this evening and was going to get ready to bath after that when hubby came home and asked for tylenol. He said he had a massive headache and he headed to shower and quickly lay in bed. Well I wanted to go eat Mexican food today because it's been almost two weeks since we last ate Mexican food so I am missing it. I am assuming that he's not going to want to go out because if it was me I would not want to either and I would not want him to go out and eat with me just because he knows that I want to (he's done that many times before even though he's not feeling well or in a lot of pain).

While he was taking his nap I decided to slowly take my shower and he still didn't feel better. No choice but to go rummage my refrigerator and eat left overs. Hubby made some chili on Sunday so I had some of that and some homemade buns that I made yesterday which I regret for not trying this recipe earlier and making more!

I hope he feels well soon because he's going to have to fly back to his parents place next week and if he's sick I'm afraid that they might think he has swine flu and not allow him to get in the plane. I've already boiled Lo Hon Ko and Honey Dates and made him bring some; I've also been forcing him to eat vitamin C every night. Hopefully he'll eventually feel better! I just don't want him to contaminate me with the darn virus!

Pai Pau

When I saw the picture of this bun from Florence's site I knew that I had to try making this but she didn't post her recipe on her blog so I was very shy to ask but when 20 other people asked if she could share her recipe I also asked for it. She's posted this recipe for quite some time now and I just found the opportunity to make this yesterday.

Apparently my pan was too small hence my bun is crowded. Next time I'll use a wee bit bigger pan.

Recipe adapted from Florence
Ingredients:
250g bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
5g instant yeast (I used 1.5 tsp)
2 tbsp skim milk powder
45g - 50g sugar
1 egg yolk + milk = 120ml
75ml whipping cream (I used 70ml)
1 tbsp condensed milk
50g pre-fermented dough
40g butter (room temperature)

Method:
1. Mix everything together except butter till you get a smooth dough. Add in the butter and knead till dough is elastic.
2. Prove dough for 1.5 hours or till double in size.
3. Divide into 8 pieces and shape into round balls. Rest dough balls for 15 minutes.
4. Final shaping and then prove for an hour.
5. Apply egg wash and bake at 190C for 15 - 20 minutes.

* I put all the ingredients in the bread machine and use it to knead my dough. As usual my dough was very wet so I had add flour to my dough.
How to make pre-fermented dough:
125g bread flour
80ml water
not more than 2g instant yeast (I used 1/2tsp of yeast)
pinch of salt
Method
Mix all ingredients together and let it prove for at least 2 hours before using.
Left overs can be divided into 50g pieces, wrapped in glad wrap and freeze for use when required.
Frozen pre-fermented dough must return to room temperature before using.

This recipe hit the spot!I am not sure why my lazy bum didn't try this recipe as soon as she gave it to us! I regret not making double recipe because it taste that good even though I don't really care to eat bread so you can imagine how good it was!

Uncle Richie came yesterday when it just got out of the oven and he smelled the buns. He tried it and instantly loved it. He brought some home for aunt L and they finished half of the buns that I gave them. I kept two piece to eat them today and OMGOSH it still taste SO GOOD! I would probably make more soon!

Thanks Florence for sharing this wonderful recipe!It kind off reminds me of the butter bun that I had in Hong Kong before but just not as strong butter taste/flavor.

Heart attack moment!

Milo gave me a heart attack twice on two different day last week. My house is fenced and we've gone all over the area to make sure that there are no holes so Milo and Stanley would not be able to run away. There are a ton of wild rabbits in our neighborhood and for some reason they always find ways to come in to our yard hence we don't let them go out at night by themselves.

Anyway we have a shed at the corner of our yard and hubs has tried to put stuff in between the shed and the fenced so that the dogs cannot run behind the fence. Hubs obstacle has been working for a long time now so I am not worried about them running away. One evening when I let them out (I didn't have my glasses) and I thought Milo ran away and Stanley was just standing near there. I called and called for Milo but he would not come to me or answer me so I quickly coax Stanley in the house and drove my car to the side of my house (I don't have a side gate and is far to walk to the side of the house) and when I called for Milo I saw Milo running to me from the other side of the fence. I told Uncle Richie and hubby about it but they said he was just hiding the other side of the yard and he just ignored me when I called him so I assumed that I was just being paranoid.

Since I thought I was just hallucinating yesterday that Milo ran away I decided to just let Milo and Stanley go out by themselves. Milo ran straight to the hole that he ran away yesterday and proceeded to run outside of the yard. I was bitten a live by the mosquitoes outside (Arghh!!) and could still not find the hole but I knew that Milo was outside because I saw him outside the fenced! I tried to ask him to come to me and even had treats which he would normally but he did not this time. I started getting paranoid and I tried calling hubby and Uncle Richie and no one would answer my call. I quickly coax Stanley in the house again and grab my car keys (I was trying to call hubs) to drive to the side of my yard. Anyway as I was heading out I saw hubby outside on the phone. At the same time he was coming home to get some stuff for work and I told him that Milo ran away and I was going to drive to the side of the house to look for Milo. I told hubby to try and coax Milo to go back in the yard because Milo and Stanley normally gets pretty excited when hubby gets back from work because he's gone all day. Anyway when I got to the side of my house I saw hubby lifting Milo. Hubby said he called Milo and Milo ran to him. Hubs said that Milo ran around the shed and go out through a very small hole (We still need to fix that. The hubs has been busy lately).


As I was driving to the side of my house I was almost brawling. I took some pictures with Milo last night and I thought that it would be my last picture with him. My mind was just going every where and when I was driving to the side of my house I actually saw a big black and brown rottweiler and I thought that would be the life of my Milo now. My last hope is that even though he managed to run away I was hoping that he would be returned since he was micro-chipped and he had a tag on him.

I am so thankful that hubby was home the same time and that Milo ran to him. He normally comes to me when I call him numerous times and especially he hears the bag of treats. I think is time to go to the dog park again since he must be pretty bored. Now they are not allowed to go out back by themselves until hubby has time to fix the whole and make sure the there is no other hole yet!

Nasi Lemak /Rice in cream

I've been craving for some Nasi Lemak for a couple of weeks now but have not had the opportunity to make them. Hubby got up in the morning and decided to make a huge pot of chili and I knew that he was going to want to eat his chili for dinner so I had to choose if I wanted to eat chili or something else. I decided to make Nasi Lemak since I've been wanting them for quite some time.

Nasi Lemak or Coconut Rice

Ingredients
2 cups of rice
3 screwpine leaves (tie them into a knot as shown above)
Salt to taste
1 small can of coconut milk (5.6 oz size) or 3/4 Cup of Coconut Milk
Some water

Tamarind Juice

1 cup of water
Tamarind pulp (size of a small ping pong ball)

Sambal

One onion

4 shallots

3 cloves of galic

10-15 Chilies

2-3 chili padi

a pinch of salt

1 tablespoon of belachan (prawn paste)

1 tablespoon sugar

Slice onion

Additional

Ikan Bilis/Anchovies *I put a handful in a bowl, pour oil over it and microwave them until crispy (about 7 minutes with my microwave)

Cucumber

Hard Boil Egg

Method

1. Place washed rice, salt and knotted pandan leaves in an electric rice cooker.

2. Pour coconut milk and water over the rice and leave to soak for about 30 minutes

3. Proceeded to cook the rice and leave in the rice cooker to keep warm until ready to eat.

4. Grind Onion, Shallot and garlic in food processor.

5. Grind Chili and chili padi.

6. Soak the tamarind pulp in water for 15 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind constantly to extract the flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.

7. Heat oil in wok and saute blended onions until fragrant.

8. Add in chili paste and belachan then continue to cook them on low fire for about 30 minutes

9. Add tamarind juice and sugar and continue cooking them on low fire for about 20 minutes.

10. Add in slice onions.

This dish did satisfy my cravings for some nasi lemak but I wish that my sambal was spicier. I used a mixture of red chili and green jalapeno> Even though I had a handful of chili padi but it was not spicy enough for me I think next time I will use all red chili plus a handful of red chili padi. I think my chili padi needs to produce more chili before I can make sambal again because I'm actually running low on chilies unless I buy them from the store.

I think it would go really yummy if I had some cucumber too but since I decided to make this last minute I was not going to run to the store to just buy a cucumber.

I'm really glad that I learned to fry the ikan bilis in the microwave because frying onions, garlic and now ikan bilis in the microwave is such and easy task. I just put it in and make sure that it doesn't burn or over cook that's all.

My house did stunk. My hubby was complaining about the smell from my ikan bilis and finally my sambal. I'm glad that I remembered to shut the bedroom door but the whole house still smells of sambal but luckily Monday hubby goes to work and the weather is nice which would allow me to open the windows to air out the house!

A very simple meal

This week the hubs and I have been eating out almost every single meal (the hubs more than me because he is out working). If we eat out at night I will surely have left overs so I would normally eat it the next day hence I've not been cooking almost all week!Hence I'm super scared of eating out.

Today hubs had to go in to work for a little while and I decided to follow him so that we can go out after that. We went to the mall after work just to walk around and hubs was hungry so we ate out again!(I just had a corn dog). Later in the evening hub asked if I wanted to eat anything and I told him that I didn't want to eat out anymore and that I wanted to go home and eat what ever that's home. Eating out so many meals can be quite costly too even though it is normally just the two of us.

I knew that I had some leftover rice in the refrigerator so I just needed to whip up something quick because I was getting hungry. Hubby wanted to have frozen pizza and I didn't want any part of that too. The last trip my parents came they brought over a few cans of chili tuna and a can of chili salmon. I rummage through my pantry quick and found the can of chili salmon. I decided to warm that up and fry some egg with onions to complete my dinner.

I can say that my dinner was really yummylicious. Although it was so simple and quick I was really satisfied and really happy with my dinner (that's how sick I am with eating out!). Sometimes we don't have to slave in the kitchen but still can whip up a decent edible meal. I love cooking elaborate meals but I love even more to just have a meal in front of you without the hassle.

Stanley's Birthday

When we adopted Stanley from the shelter 2.5 years ago his doctor estimated his birthday to be beginning of December but hubby's has always said that we should celebrate his birthday on the 3rd of November with mine and I've always disagree with that idea. After we had Milo and his birthday is about 2 days apart from hub's birthday we decided to celebrate their birthday together hence we decided that we should celebrate Stanley's birthday with me. I finally agreed and made November 3rd Stanley's birthday too.

My dear Stanley..I just want you to know that we love you no matter what. We've not regretted picking you up at the shelter and bring you home with us. Although you are very noisy sometimes but you are the sunshine in mummy and daddy's life. We love you so much my dear boy! xoxo

Peanut Butter Carrot Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup homemade peanut butter
1/2-3/4 cup apple sauce
1 cup shredded carrots
1 egg

Methods

1. Mix flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients.

2. Pour into greased 8" round cake pan and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. (I used cupcake pan because it would be easier for the dogs to eat) Let cool.

3. Decorate with more peanut butter and carrots.

This cupcake is even healthier than cakes I make for humans. It was difficult to make Stanley sit like what we did to Milo. It was difficult to make him sit still so we can take a decent picture of him but finally we managed to get a couple of decent ones of him.

Everyone loved their cupcake. Even picky Milo ate the whole cupcake by himself and growl at Stanley when Stanley when close to his cupcake. When I made Milo's cupcake Milo just ate half of his cupcake so I knew that he loved this cupcake. I chose to use peanut butter this time because I know Stanley and Milo both loves peanut butter so using peanut butter as frosting would be perfect. You should see when Stanley puts the whole thing in his mouth and the peanut butter sticks on his upper tough it's super funny because he keeps trying to lick it.

Happy Birthday my faithful companion. I hope that you had a wonderful day on your special day.

Saltgrass Steak House

Hubby suggested that we go Cheesecake Factory for dinner on the day of my birthday but I told hubby that we would go there another day because I knew he would be home late and I didn't want us to have to drive about 30 minutes for dinner on a late weeknight. So I told hubby that we should just go somewhere closer to the house the actual day and go cheesecake factory another day when is not so late.

I decided to go Saltgrass steak house because we've been there before and we quite like the food there and most importantly it is less than 10 minutes from our house so we don't have to spend lot of time traveling.

Our complimentary bread with their butter. The bread was super soft and the butter actually tasted like it had a hint of honey.

My pork chop with baked sweet potato

Hubs ribs with mashed potato and cinnamon apples

Overall the meal was pretty good. My pork was just nicely done hence it was not hard or tough (I hate hard and tough meat because it reminds me of jerky meat!). Hubby's ribs was nicely done so it was fall off the bone ribs..yummy... I also had steak soup as my starters which was pretty good (no photos because I was super hungry) and hubby had Caesar salad. We were so full we didn't have room for dessert because they actually have cinnamon cheesecake promotion for a limited time (What a waste).

The price of this place is not outrageous. Hubby had a glass of beer while I had water. This meal cost us about $55 including tips. I think I will try the steak next time I go there again since is a steak house.

Mun farn/Stew Rice

I've not had rice for about two weeks now and I was having craving for some rice. Although I don't mind making elaborate meals but most of the time I just love to make fast and simple meal. I don't always plan what I want to cook so most of the time the meat etc is frozen because I didn't defrost them ahead of time and hence difficult for me to cook a meal.

I am not sure what is the real name for this dish. I just remember when I was back home in KL this dish is pretty popular at the tai chow aka coffee shop. I am not sure if I even order this before because when I was living in KL I don't really eat rice.

My rice sprinkled with home grown chili padi

Ingredients
Cooked Rice
8oz Siew yoke (Roast pork)
10oz Vegetables
4 cloves Garlic
10oz Chicken Stock
2 eggs

Seasoning
1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Tapioca Flour *mix with 1/2cup of water
Salt and pepper to taste
oil

Method
1. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a pan.
2. Add in garlic and fry till fragrant then add siew yoke and stir fry it for about 5 minutes. Pour Dark Soy sauce over the siew yoke. Mix well and dish the siew yoke out.
3. Pour one tablespoon of oil and stir fry the rest of the garlic. Pour chicken stock in and bring to boil. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add in vegetable and bring back to a hard boil. Add tapioca flour mixture and bring gravy to a hard boil to cook flour mixture.
5. Add in Siew yoke and season to taste.
6. Turn off heat and crack in the 2 eggs, stir to cook the eggs
7. Pour gravy over rice.

You can add seafood to this dish too but because I didn't defrost them and hubs not a fan of seafood I decided to omit it. I only took my siew yoke out from the freezer because that was all I had left when I make siew yoke last month and decided to use them up. I love this dish and is so simple to make. Since I love Wah tan hor (egg gravy noodle) and it taste similar like that hence I would be making this dish more often. I don't have choy sum at home so I used the little bak choy I had and cabbage to cook this dish.

What Would You Do?

I'm currently so bloody frustrated!! Last weekend when hubs invited his co worker and puppy for dinner I told hubby to make sure that the puppy has her shot up to date. Call me paranoid I just don't want the boys to mingle with other dogs that don't have their shots up to date just in case the other dog has any disease that we don't know about and is contiguous. Some disease you won't know about it and won't show up until is too late (I know that is unlikely but there is a possibility). So anyway hubby told me that he don't think that his co worker will bring the puppy over for dinner and when they arrived he had the puppy with her.

I was dumbfounded because hubs said that his co worker was not going to bring the puppy. Anyway we allowed the boys to play with the puppy but Stanley keeps wanting to hump her since she's a female which surprise me because Stanley normally only does it to the female dogs several times and stop but this time he was trying to hump her all evening she was here!

Anyway today the same co worker had hernia today and needed to be admitted to the hospital for his surgery. Hubs had to sent him to the hospital from his home because he could not drive from his apartment to the hospital. Later this evening hubby text me and asked me if I mind that he watched the little puppy. I told him personally I don't agree with this idea because as you know she is still not up to date on her shots and Stanley loves to hump her (which is not a big deal). It just bothers me that she has not have her shots since birth (she's about 4 months old) and has not been to the vet so we don't know how healthy is she.

Hubs started to say well we've had those 4 stray dogs that we found by the road side and I told him that I told him I was not comfortable with those too. I don't want my Stanley to be contaminated with any disease from any of them too but I told him that he insisted on keeping those dogs!I told hubs if it was up to me I would not keep any of those dogs because I don't want any of my dogs to get sick because I was being nice.

Anyway hubs thinks I'm inhumane because I didn't want to take the little puppy since her owner was in the hospital. I asked if his girlfriend or his son (since it was supposed his son's puppy anyway) take the puppy. Well the son is 15 years old and does not have a car to take the puppy which is fine with me but what about the girlfriend. I mean shouldn't she help him out too?

This situation is pissing me off because all I want to do is just protect my boys from any unforeseen diseases. To top things off I am currently watching Uncle Richie's three dogs because they went on vacation!

Do you really think I'm inhumane? Do you think I'm paranoid?

Should I be happy?

I've been thinking about changing my cell phone plan for quite some time now. I want to change my plan to get the internet so that I can use internet on the go and also use black berry messenger with my friends. Hub's has been thinking of changing my plan for me since he knows I want the internet but I told him I should just wait till my contract ends because I would have to pay $200 plus dollars to cancel my current contract. Well since my Birthday is around the corner the hubs thought that he would surprise me on the day of my birthday with a change contract. He changed my contract so I can have unlimited minutes, text and internet. Wooohooooo...I was happy but then it makes me cringe when I think about the cancellation fee that we're going to have to cough out!

I asked hubs why didn't he discuss with me before changing plans and his answer was he didn't need too...0_0 I know he just wants me to have internet on my phone since he knows I want them..Like hubs said oh well is just once and no I didn't grumble at him :P

I guess I'll be using my cell phone even more now. I'm already using my cell phone to do many things having the internet will just make me make use of my phone even more. I wonder if I should ask hubs for another new phone? (I don't think so because I just got my phone about 6 months ago and hubby's phone is so warn out and has not been changed for a year now so I think he would change his phone first).

Buns!Buns!Buns!

Most week the hubs does not finish his deli meat because I honestly thinks that he's sick and tired of eat sandwich everyday at work hence he doesn't and I always have left over deli meat in my fridge. I normally just toast them in the freezer and use them to make soup but this time I decided to use them to make buns with the left over deli meat.

Sandwich bread or buns adapted from here

Ingredients

(starter dough)湯種:
150g bread flour
12g caster sugar
200ml hot water (I used milk)
60g unsalted butter (I used oil)

Main Dough:
450g bread flour
100g cake flour
1 whole egg
350ml water (I used 300ml milk)
9g instant active yeast
6g salt
75g caster sugar
25g milk powder

30g unsalted butter

Filling:
200g deli meat
8 to 10 Cheddar Cheese Slices or 1 Cup of Shredded Cheese
Mayo
Shredded Parmesan/Swiss Chesse


Method

1. In a small pot, cook the starter dough ingredients with low fire till the mixture comes together. Remove from fire and set aside to cool completely before use.
2. Mix all ingredients in main dough except for butter together in a large mixing bowl to form a soft dough. Place on work area to knead or mixer to do the kneading. Knead the dough till it is not sticky, about 20 minutes.
3. Add the unsalted butter in and continue to knead till the dough is shiny and elastic. To test if the dough is ready, pull a small piece off and stretching it with your fingers. If dough is very elastic and pulls to almost see through without breaking, then it's done.
4. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof for at least 90 minutes to 2hrs.
5. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Half for ham and cheese, the other for other fillings of your desire.
6. In one half of the dough portion, divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll round and let rest covered before shaping them. The remaining half dough portion, do what ever shape you like, else make more ham and cheese buns.
7. For the 8 pieces, roll it into a round flat circle. Place a slice of ham and cheese in the center and roll it up like a swiss roll. Seal the edges and cut right in the middle, so you have 2 small logs.
8. Place the 2 small logs, cut side facing up in your desired greased baking pan. Repeat until all dough pieces, ham and cheese slices are used up.
9. Let proof covered for 45 mins. Sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese
10. Preheat oven to 180°C.
11. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes till the top is golden brown. Remove from mould after 5 minutes and let cool on rack.

-I made the started dough waited for about 1hr and just dump the rest of the ingredients in my bread maker to make the dough.
-I used half the dough the make ham and cheese. I used a quarter of the dough and made chocolate bun and the other quarter I made pork floss buns.

The buns were super soft and super yummy especially when it just comes out of the oven. I didn't even make dinner that night because I was just thinking of eating the buns since hubby would not take them to work and I gave most of the buns to Uncle Richie because I know that he will eat them every morning.

Chicken Enchiladas

I've been craving for some Enchiladas for a few days and since I had some left over chicken from my potato roasted chicken and I had some homemade enchiladas sauce, homemade salsa and a tub of sour cream that I need to finish I decided to make some enchiladas thinking that hubs would come home for lunch since he had to work a little bit today.

Hubs didn't come home for lunch and I had a pan full of enchiladas. I was suppose to make potato roasted chicken again this time with two whole chicken because hubby invited one of his co worker home for dinner (he's single and he don't get to eat home cooked dinner often) and we were thinking of calling Uncle Richie and Aunt L over too. At about 5pm Uncle Richie came over and told me that they were starving and that they had ton of things too do so they won't be coming over for dinner. So I went in the kitchen and I saw the pan of enchilada and send them home to them with him so him and Aunt L can eat them since they were hungry then.

Ingredients
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1-1/2 teaspoons dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
10 oz Enchilada Sauce
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons chopped green bell pepper
1/2 clove garlic, minced
4 (10 inch) flour tortillas
16oz Salsa
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium, non-stick skillet over medium heat, cook chicken until no longer pink and juices run clear. Drain excess fat. Cube the chicken and return it to the skillet. Add the onion, sour cream, Cheddar cheese, parsley, oregano and ground black pepper. Heat until cheese melts. Stir in enchilada sauce, green pepper, salsa and garlic.
3. Roll even amounts of the mixture in the tortillas. Arrange in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover with taco sauce and 3/4 cup Cheddar cheese. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Apparently I had more chicken than I thought so I had to make more. Since this is the first time I made enchiladas I didn't really know how to wrap it. Although it doesn't look that nice but I'm surprised it actually taste pretty good. Aunt L and Uncle Richie loved it and I told them to finish them before bringing home the pan :)..I will have to make some for hubs next time.

Potato Roasted Chicken

I was blog hopping one day and I came across Christine's Recipe I knew that I'm going to have to make this soon (it was summer) when the weather cools down. It was suppose to cool down yesterday so I decided to make this dish. I went to the store at noon yesterday to go get a chicken so I can make this dish for dinner. Hubby also bought a bunch of very huge baking potatoes a couple of weeks ago so is a good thing that I can use some of those potatoes up. Hop over to Christine's blog if you want the step by step on how to prepare this dish.

Ingredients:
1 bird Chicken
1 1/2 tablespoon Coarse Salt or Sea Salt
A good shake of Ground Black Pepper
1 teaspoon of Rosemary
1 teaspoon of Thyme
5 cloves Garlic
50gm Butter(I used 2.5tablespoon)
2 tablespoon Olive Oil

Potatoes
3pcs Potato
5 cloves Garlic
A good pinch of Fine Salt

Method

1. Rub coarse salt or sea salt all over inside & outside of the chicken, give a good pinch of ground black pepper all over inside & outside of the chicken. Keep in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
2. Preheat oven at 180c. Remove the marinated chicken from the fridge, again rub all over with rosemary & thyme. Stuff garlic into the chicken.
3. Place the chicken in the oven proof glass tray & pour olive oil all over the chicken. Place the chicken into the oven & roast for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cut the potatoes into 1cm in thickness. Fill the cooking pan with enough water, place the potato & garlic into the pan, boil it with high heat. When it's start boiling, boil for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat, drain off the water & leave aside.
5. After 15 minutes later, open up the oven door & place the butter on the chicken. Roast until the chicken becomes golden brown in colour, this process take about 25 to 30 minutes.
6. When the chicken has become golden brown in colour, remove the glass tray from the oven. Turn the entire chicken upside down & place the potatoes all over the glass tray. Again place the glass tray back to the oven & roast until the chicken become golden brown in color.

This is a really yummy dish..Hubby gave two thumbs up and he loves the potatoes. Since when I cook I don't usually measure my ingredients to the T my chicken was a little too salty and a little spicy from the black pepper but if you eat it with the potatoes it was just right.

Another reason why I made this dish is because I wanted some left over chicken so that I can make some chicken enchiladas for dinner sometime this week for dinner. I would make this dish again because hubs really love this dish. I love the garlicky taste in the potatoes even though we have garlic in the chicken you can really taste the garlic and the garlic is still crunchy. I prefer the softer garlic that was boiled with the potatoes. I will put more garlic with my potatoes next time just because I'm a garlic lover!

Asian Style Salmon

I suddenly had cravings to eat fish last night at about 10pm so obviously I could not/did not want to whip up some fish and eat them then go to bed so hubby suggested that I take the fish out from the freezer so I can cook them the next day.

I found two salmon that I bought a couple of weeks ago and decided to cook that. I tried cooking salmon on the pan before and it stunk up my whole house thus I don't cook salmon in the pan anymore. I normally cook my salmon on the grill so that it won't stink up the house but hubby was at work when I tried to cook this so I decided to use the oven instead hoping it won't stink up my house.

Ingredients
1-1/2 pounds whole salmon, cleaned
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1-1/2 teaspoons chili sauce
1-1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger root
1/2 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 lime, juiced
1/2 lime, zested
1-1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1-1/2 green onions, chopped

Method
1. Prepare outdoor grill for high heat.
2. Trim the tail and fins off of the salmon. Make several shallow cuts across the salmon's skin. 3. Place salmon on 3 large, slightly overlapping sheets of aluminum foil.
4. In a bowl, stir together soy sauce, chili sauce, ginger, and garlic. Mix in lime juice, lime zest, and brown sugar. Spoon sauce over the salmon.
5. Fold the foil over the salmon, and crimp the edges to seal.
6. If using hot coals, move them to one side of the grill. Place the fish on the side of the grill that does not have coals directly underneath it, and close the lid. If using a gas grill, place the fish on one side, and turn off the flames directly underneath it; close the lid. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove to a serving platter, and pour any juices that may have collected in the foil over the top of the fish. Sprinkle with green onions.

OR

7. Prepare as stated but preheat over at 425 degree F. Bake for 20 minutes and take the top foil out so and cook for another 5 minutes. Check fish to make sure the fish is cooked.

Thankfully my house didn't stink even though I cooked it in the oven so I guess I don't need to only cook salmon on the grill. I love to cook the salmon this way because it taste so good and there is no fishy taste/smell. Even my picky hubs approved of this dish and actually eats them.