Embarrassed !!!

I went to the store just now intending to buy some plastic totes to transfer some of the items we still have in card board boxes to totes because Uncle Richie said that card board boxes will attract silver fish. I hate silver fish because they will eat my nice clothes and sweater so I'm trying to eliminate card board boxes in my house to get ride of the silver fish. I didn't get the plastic totes though because they didn't have the size that I wanted that was supposed to be on sale.

Anyway I bought some other stuff and proceeded to go pay. When she was done ringing all my stuff I proceeded to swipe my credit card to pay for my merchandise. I swiped my card and was about to sign the machine but the cashier told me that my card was denied but she told me to swipe again and it was declined again!!OMGawd!!What happened I asked myself. So the cashier asked if I had another card which I had but I was so shocked that I didn't even know which card to use. I was stumbling to think which other card I wanted to use and then paid for my purchases.

As soon as I left the cashier; while going to my car I straightaway called the credit card company. I was upset because I knew that my card was not denied because we didn't make any payment or we over use our card and I could not think of another reason why my card was denied. I told customer service that I was about to use my card a minute ago and they told me that my card was denied. I wanted to know the reason why my card was denied because I'm up to date on my payment and it was really embarrassing to get my card denied!

Customer Service said that someone got the hold of my credit card number and made some charges on my card. They are not going to charge me for the purchases made by them. They have decided to shut down my credit card and will send me a new card. We are going to get a whole new account etc. I was shocked when I was listening to her because everything happened so fast. They claimed that they tried to call me yesterday which I think they did but they did not leave any message on my phone. I normally don't answer calls that I don't recognize the number that's why I didn't answer their call (if it was them anyway).

At least I know what is going on but I cannot help feeling so embarrassed. I think the cashier was thinking if you don't have money you should not be buying stuff!

I love presents!

I blog hop here and there when I have time and I see that there is a lot of blogs out there that have giveaway. I've never joined any giveaway because I don't think that I'm lucky enough to win anything. Anyway I've join some giveaway on a couple of blogs that I happen to stumbled upon just because I thought I'll try my luck and hopefully some time I would be able to win something.

Anyway I was surprise to receive an email from barb that I won Prize Pack from Victoria Hill Farm. I was really happy because this is the first time I actually won something without really doing anything. Thanks Barb!
I am very happy with my presents. Now I just have to make it to the store to get my free cookies. I told hubs I'm feeling lucky maybe I will win more goodies..

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hubby has been hinting that he wants some chocolate chip cookies all day Sunday. Since I don't really like to bake during the weekend I told hubby that I will bake some for him this coming week (I didn't promise him when so he would hold me accountable for it :P if I didn't make it)

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.
4. Refrigerate cookie dough for about 2 hrs.
5. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
6. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets.

I decided to whip up some cookie dough so that I could bake some cookies just before hubby arrives home from work. I knew that he's going to want to eat some when he gets back from work and true enough he was more willing to skip dinner and just eat cookies.

Although I reduced the sugar from the original recipe I still found the cookies a little too sweet. I am not sure would it be because I used a cup of caramel chocolate chip(I think is much sweeter) and one cut of semi sweet chocolate chip but next time I make it again I think I'm going to need to reduce the sugar a little more if I want to eat some of the cookies myself because I dislike eating too sweet of a cookie.

Shopping Again!

We got up early morning to head to REI to do some shopping. Although we didn't buy a lot of stuff but we still spend more money that I thought I would there.


The only thing that cost the most is the Coleman propane stove we bought. I've always wanted one so that when we go camping we can cook something instead of just grilling food on our portable grill all the time. Even though we don't go camping that much but I figure when I need to cook my pungent food I can cook it outside with this portable stove.

When we were done with REI we were both starving so I suggested we go to the BBQ buffet place. I know we should not have because we were just going to stuff our face but I was so hungry I just thought the heck with it :P.

After a very heavy brunch we went home and just chill. We watch some show on TV and I suggested to hubby to stop at the mall. Hubby agreed to it but then I wanted to change my mind because going out meaning spending more money but hubby said could just walk around and I agreed.

I didn't have anything that I wanted to buy but when I went in Coach I did try on a pair of shoes. I would like to buy them just because I wanted a pair but I knew I would not really wear it so I told hubby that I didn't want them although he was more than willing to buy it for me :) Then we went in Columbia and that was where the damages were done.


I love the Ashtanga™ II Pant so much that I got both the colors. At first when I tried the black color. I so wanted to buy bark/brown color too but I could only find it in S/regular and I needed the S/short because I'm short :P. After searching none available hubs suggested that I asked the Sales Assistant and she finally found one for me :).

When I first met hubby he had a lot of dark colored clothing and had very little colored clothing. I like it when the hubs wear different color clothing instead of just dark colored so I've been buying him more clothing with different color and I guess his taste changed and he likes to wear other color too. While I was busy looking for my pants hubby helped himself to some of the short sleeves shirts. He bought almost all the color available in his size. I was shocked but I am happy that he was willing to wear nicer casual shirts like this instead of just t-shirts.

Promoting SIL's Company

SIL's husband has a business selling golf clubs and accessories. To help promote his company her hubby joined a golf tournament organize by the country club. SIL's hubby have been practicing really hard for this golf tournament and have been trying to get sponsors to sponsor his company for this tournament.

SIL has invited us to join them on the actual to play some golf and also to help promote her hubby's company. I am assuming that since they want us to help promote their business they are going to have embroidered shirt or hats or even customized items for every one that attends the event. I think this would be a great way for people to remember his company. Since I happen to stumble Watermark which has great product I will ask them to look into this company to order their items from them. Hopefully they will order some useful goodies. :)

Buying a motorcycle

Uncle Richie and hubby have been talking about getting a motorcycle each this summer. Hubby's been wanting to get one since we sold his Goldwing before we moved down to here. We've been to several Harley Davidson dealerships now to find a good deal.

Hubby came across a place about 1 hr drive from Houston that sells motorcycle that has been in accidents. They will buy salvage motorcycle and put it together to make another motorcycle. There are some parts is still not perfect. Hubby was thinking of getting a motorcycle there because is so much cheaper and find parts for a great deal from Realhog to get the parts and accessories for what ever motorcycle he shall buy there.

Parmesan Tilipia and Sweet Potato Fries

I'm trying to clear my deep freezer so that I can clean it soon. I've also tried to stay away from the store because of the access of perishable food that I bought on my last few trip to the store. I already threw out two head of lettuce because we could not eat it in time (I have good intention to use all the perishable food that I bought). Anyway I've forbid myself from going to the grocery store to get anything (not even milk) until I've clear out my refrigerator and most of the deep freezer.
I remembered that we had some frozen tilipia in the freezer so I decided to make some fish for dinner and since I bought some sweet potato a couple of weeks ago I thought that I should use that too. I remember eating sweet potato fries at this restaurant a few months ago and loved it so I thought I would fry some up too.

Parmesan Tilipia

Ingredients

1 lb tilapia fillet (orange roughy, cod or red snapper can be substituted)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1-1/2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions
1/8 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning (or salt)
1/8 teaspoon dried basil
Dash of black pepper
1/2 dash Tabasco sauce(or hot sauce)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In buttered 13-by-9-inch baking dish or jellyroll pan, lay fillets in single layer.
3. Do not stack fillets.
4. Brush top with juice.
5. In bowl combine cheese, butter, mayonnaise, onions and seasonings.
6. Mix well with fork.
7. Bake fish in preheated oven 10 to 20 minutes or until fish just starts to flake.
8. Spread with cheese mixture and bake until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
9. Baking time will depend on the thickness of the fish you use.
10. Watch fish closely so that it does not overcook.
11. Broil 3 to 4 minutes or until almost done. Add cheese and broil another 2 to 3 minutes or until browned.
Note: This fish can also be made in a broiler.

Initially I was not too keen on making fries because I the night before I made about 2 dozen of chocolate glaze donuts and thought that I should not make so much fried food but sweet potato fries was what came into my mind and it was also what I wanted to eat. I didn't want to bake it in the oven because I've tried baking sweet potato fries in the oven before and it didn't taste too good so I thought screw it I'll just fry it. I guess I should make some herb drink before I get sick from all these fried food.

Homemade Seasoned French Fries

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes or just normal potatoes, peeled
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon onion salt
1 teaspoon old bay seasoning or salt or seasoned salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup water, or as needed
1 cup vegetable oil for frying

Method

1. Slice potatoes into French fries, and place into cold water so they won't turn brown while you prepare the oil.
2.Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. While the oil is heating, sift the flour, garlic salt, onion salt, old bay seasoning, and paprika into a large bowl. Gradually stir in enough water so that the mixture can be drizzled from a spoon.
3. Dip potato slices into the batter one at a time, and place in the hot oil so they are not touching at first. The fries must be placed into the skillet one at a time, or they will clump together. Fry until golden brown and crispy. Remove and drain on paper towels.

I've use this recipe to make french fries for quite sometime now. This french fries recipe is really yummy and is worth making. Even my hubby that's really picky with his fries approved of this recipe.

What have I done to my hubby?

Ever since I moved here and started cooking I try to make my food from scratch so I'm able to see and control what I put in the food. Hubby is always the one trying to tell me to just buy from the store because is easier and less work for me.

A couple of weeks ago I had some apples sitting on my kitchen counter and I knew that I had two store bought pie crust (I buy it in case I need it but lazy to make) so I thought I would make an apple pie for the hubs because he's been asking for some apple pie.

As soon as he puts a fork full in his mouth the hubs asked if I made the pie crust. I proceeded to tell him that is store bought. He then said that next time he thinks I should make the pie crust too..0_0. The next day when Uncle Richie was over we offered him some pie and he mentioned to Uncle Richie that he don't think that the pie crust is that good which shocked Uncle Richie..LOL..

The most shocking one was two night ago. I was heating up some Spaghetti and meatballs that I defrosted from the freezer for hubby(I would make batches and freeze it so that hubs can have spaghetti and meatballs anytime he wants) and Uncle Richie was there so I offered him some too. There was not enough homemade spaghetti sauce with the meatballs so I had to open a store bought jar of spaghetti sauce and add to the noodles and meatballs. The first bite hubby took he asked if this was store bought sauce. Uncle Richie looked at him and was shocked! I was pretty surprised myself because hubby was never this picky. Lately I noticed that he likes to eat homemade food especially food made from scratch more.

Uncle Richie said that he's too spoiled now. Hubs should just be happy that he has home cook food to eat. He said that I should not cook so much food from scratch and spoil the hubs like that. He told hubby that if he wanted it homemade he should make it himself and to hubs defense I don't like hubs to cook in the kitchen because he uses every utensils, plate, bowls, pots and pan or anything thing he can find in the kitchen when he cooks. He is also very messy when he cooks because he'll use all the utensils etc and leave it till he's done hence making the kitchen so messy and dirty. To prevent from needing to clean up after him I rather do the cooking and clean my own little mess.

I'm not sure what have I done to my hubby. Maybe I should stop making everything from scratch so that hubby is not so picky with his food. Thankfully hubby will still finish up his food without much complain even though it was not made from scratch.

Marble Bread

I've not made bread for a couple of days now. A couple of weeks ago the grocery store had a great sale on yeast and I did stock up a few bottles of yeast and the same weekend when we went to Costco I saw a 50lbs bag of bread flour and told the hubs that I had to have it. I am making more of my own bread anyway because I find that store bought bread gets moldy really quickly compared to homemade bread even though store bought bread have preservative. Since I saw the 50lbs bag of bread flour (I cannot find it any where else) I figure why not since I will be and am baking more breads now.

I've been trying different types of sweet breads hoping that I can make something that the hubs can just grab it and make his way to work without any preparations in the morning. I was browsing through some food blog and found this recipe and decided that it looks cute needed to try it out.

Recipe adapted from here

PLAIN DOUGH

INGREDIENTS A :

• 220g high protein flour
• 4g instant yeast (I used about 1-1/4tsp)
• 130g water (I used about 110g)
  

INGREDIENTS B :

• 60g high protein flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 15g sugar
• 10g milk powder
• 40g water
• 20g butter

1. Mix INGREDIENTS A, set mixer at slow speed & blend, cover with clong wrap, allow to leaven for 50 mins.
2. Add in INGREDIENTS B, knead till bread dough is shiny & springy, cover with cling wrap . Continue to leaven for 50 mins.
3. Punch the dough down & make into round shape. Rest for 10 mins.

Chocolate Dough

Ingredeients A :

• 200g high protien flour
• 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 70g castor sugar
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 140ml water (I used about 110ml)
  

Ingredients B :

• 40g butter

1. Knead Ingredients A with medium speed until the dough smooth. Add in butter & continue to knead until the dough is fully developed & can be stretched into very thin sheet without tearing (window pane stage).
2. Remove dough, shape into a smooth ball & leave to rise for 1-2 hrs.
3. Punch the dough down & make into round shape. Rest for 15 mins.

**** Roll the Plain & Chocolate Dough into rectangular shapes & place the Chocolate dough on top of the Plain Dough. Roll it up tightly like swissroll. Put the dough into a greased loaf tin & leave to rise for 40 mins. Preheat over at 350 degree F. Glaze with beaten egg, place in a pre-heated oven & bake for 40 mins.

Note*- I used my bread machine this entire process. I took turns to knead the dough with the bread machine. When the plain bread was done I transferred it to a bowl for it to rise and begin my chocolate bread. I also didn't glaze my bread with beaten egg because I find that it gives the bread a burnt look so I just glaze it with some water.

** The reason why I reduce the liquid in my dough is because when ever I knead a bread it is always wet if I follow the full amount of liquid then I have to add a bunch of flour to make the dough dry so now I just adjust the liquid not having to add so much additional flour or none at all.

*** Call me cheap but I bake my bread in 350 degree F oven for 25 minutes turn off the oven and then left the bread in there (because the oven is still hot) for about 25 minutes to save electricity and also because it was really hot yesterday I didn't really want the oven to be going for a long period of time. The bread came out perfect!

This bread does take some time to make but when you see the end process I think is really worth the time. My bread took longer to make as stated because I rested my dough for about 2 hrs (expect the Ingredients A for the plain bread) each time.

Overall I am pretty satisfied with the end product. I gave a 1/4 loaf to Uncle Richie and kept the rest for hubby. When he ate it last night he said it needed to be spread with some butter. I guess I'm still in a mission to find grab and go breakfast bread for him.Oh well at least he took the bread with him to work this morning. I will definitely make this bread again.

Prawn Noodles (Har Mee)

I've been thinking of cooking Har Mee for the longest time but I knew that I needed to save up some prawn shells first. I diligently saved up my prawn shells for about 8 months now and my freezer is getting full from all sorts of stuff I have in my freezer so I finally decided that it is time for me to make my har mee. I found about two half filled grocery bags of prawn shells.

Ingredients

Prawn shells
Chicken or pork bones (optional)
water
Pork and prawns

Seasoning
Salt to taste
Rock Sugar to taste

Method
1. Put shells in a stock pot and add water.

2.Take a handful of prawns and fry it on a with two tablespoon of oil until very fragrant. Add to the rest of the prawn shells and water

3. Boil the stock for about 1.5 hrs

4. When stock is done boiling, strain out the shells/bones.

5. Add prawns, pork and seasoning and bring to boil or until sugar dissolve or until pork and prawns are cooked. Dish out the pork and prawns and put aside until ready to use.

p/s: I knew I had more than enough prawn shells but I added the chicken bone anyway because I had it sitting in my freezer and I'm trying to clear out the freezer.

Chilli oil adapted from here

4–5 tbsp chilli paste (cili boh)
6 shallots pounded
3 cloves garlic pounded
4–5 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt

Method
Heat 4–5 tablespoons of oil and fry pounded shallots, garlic and chilli paste until aromatic. Dish out and set aside for use as chilli oil and paste.

600g fresh yellow noodles
300g rice vermicelli, soaked until soft then drained
250g bean sprouts
200g water convolvulus, plucked into neat sections
Some shallot crisps
Hard boil eggs

To serve, put noodles, rice vermicelli, bean sprouts and water convolvulus into a noodle strainer. Scald in a pot of boiling hot water for a minute then drain off excess water. Place into soup bowls. Top up with the main stock and sliced pork, chilli oil, chilli paste and shallot crisps.

The process is not as difficult as it sounds. I had a lot of free time in between when I made this dish. Honestly I never knew that it was this easy to make har mee. When my prawn stock was done it honestly smelled like har mee in the stalls you get in Malaysia and it taste so good! I cannot believe that I was didn't make this earlier. I do have a lot of prawn stock left hence I frozen about 4 container of them because I am the only one that eats this so I can now have a bowl of har mee anytime my heart desire.

Malaysia Fruit Salad (Rojak)

Uncle Richie bought me a nice big fresh Pineapple a couple of days ago. When I cut the pineapple up it was so sweet, juicy and yummy. I suddenly thought about rojak! I remembered seeing a recipe in My Asian Kitchen website. I quickly go to her website to see what I need to make the rojak sauce.

Recipe adapted from My Asian Kitchen

Ingredients

2.5 cup refine/granulated sugar( if you want your sauce thicker add more sugar)

1/2 cup chili boh or Sambal Olek

3-4 chili padi aka thai's bird chili(chopped fine)
1 tbsp sticky shrimp paste (har ko) must have!!
1.5-2 tbsp of caramel black thick sauce (I use Yuen Chun brand) don't use the regular thick soy sauce,it's smell raw!!(I used ABC Kecap Manis because that's what I had)
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tbsp roasted crushed belacan (shrimp paste)

1 lb of fried/roast coarsely crush peanut for sprinkle

Method

1. Prepared a clean medium bowl,combine chili boh/sambal olek ,sugar,salt,roasted belacan,sticky shrimp paste (har koh) and caramel thick soy sauce.Mix all the ingredients in the bowl ,use a spatula or big spoon to stir the mixture until well combine.Keep stirring (about 30 times)until the sauce become thick and gooey ,then add in chopped bird's chili.Check the seasoning (salt and sugar) before store in clean container.(No water needed!!!)

2. Use a clean spoon each time you want to scoop the sauce out.Store the remaining sauce in fridge.Shelf life is about 6 months to a year..

3. Prepare your favourite cut fruits in a plate,add rojak sauce one spoon at a time into your salad.Then sprinkle with roasted crushed peanut on top before serving.

Note: Pineapple and cucumber are fruit which contains higher liquid than others fruits or vegetables.So it's advisable to consume the salad (rojak) immediately after mixing with the sauce. Add peanuts when you're ready to eat to prevent the peanuts from getting soggy.

I have all the ingredients to make the sauce hence I made the sauce immediately. I did add a few tablespoon of water because I find the sauce a little to thick. After making the sauce I was tempted to make my rojak IMMEDIATELY but to notice all I had was pineapples. I was just going to have pineapple but decided to make a trip to my currently favorite store to buy more fruits to make my rojak.


I bought some green apples, mango and cucumber for my rojak. I didn't sprinkle peanuts on my rojak because I was too lazy to grind some up and I'm not a big fan of peanuts on my rojak. I could have added some kangkung and beansprout in my rojak too but then I just wanted mine to be fruit rojak.

I love the rojak sauce!It was so very yummy along with the fruits that I had. I was in heaven when I ate my rojak. My only problem is I can taste the coarse sugar in my rojak sauce. Lesley if you are reading this is it suppose to be like this or should I just add more water to melt the sugar? I know when you buy rojak from the stall back home in Malaysia their sauce is always watery compared to this one. Anyway it was an easy and yummy rojak sauce. I halved the recipe and still have half a bottle of rojak sauce left but Uncle Richie bought me another pineapple so I can have more since there is still fresh fruits around but would not be for long as the weather is getting cooler day by day.

Chicken Caesar Salad

Every time we eat out and if it comes with a salad I've been order Caesar salad and to my surprise the hubs has been ordering that too (he is very picky with his vegetables and he only eat certain kind of vegetables and salad dressing).

Last weekend when we went shopping I asked the hubs if he to eat Caesar salad at home which he replied yes so I said then we got to get some Romaine Lettuce but he told me that he don't eat Romaine Lettuce. I then proceeded to tell him that we use Romaine Lettuce to make Caesar salad and he agreed to get some.

One of the ingredient to make the Caesar dressing is Anchovy Fillets (not our dried Anchovy/ikan bilis) and I knew that hubs would not eat Anchovy but I was with him and needed him to stop at Krogers to buy a can hence I need to tell him what I needed as Sams or Costco don't sell them and even if they did I would not buy a case of them!

Ingredients

1 large head romaine lettuce (washed over and thoroughly dried)
1 1/2 cups garlic-flavored croutons
parmesan cheese
freshly grated black pepper (to taste)

DRESSING

2 anchovy fillets (or to taste)
3fresh garlic cloves (or to taste)
1 cup mayonnaise (not salad dressing)
1/4 cup half-and-half cream or milk
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (or to taste) (optional)
buttermilk or half-and-half, for thinning

Method

1. In a small 2-cup mini food processor, process/mince the anchovy fillets and garlic together until finely minced (do this together and firstly, otherwise it will not get minced properly with the other ingredients).

2. Add in the remaining ingredients, and process for 30 seconds, or more until well mixed.

3. Adjust seasonings to taste.

4. This with buttermilk or milk for a thinner consistency if desired

5. Store in fridge, covered in a glass container for 3 or more hours before using (the flavors become stronger when left in the fridge for a longer time)

6. Toss desired amount of dressing with Romaine lettuce and croutons.

7. Sprinkle with more grated Parmesan cheese if desired.

After making the dressing I quickly took out two chicken breast and sprinkle some poultry seasoning to marinate. We marinated the chicken overnight because we didn't eat this on Monday as planned. So on Tuesday I took the chicken out from the fridge and used my George Forman to cook the chicken. I didn't even use a single drop of oil because I figure the oil will come from the chicken if not is just fine.

The Caesar dressing is just yummy. Hubby could not even taste the Anchovy Fillet but he knew that there was some. He was hesitant at the beginning but then he decided to give it a try anyway. When I went to Krogers to look for the Anchovy it took me a long time because it was in such a small can and hidden away. Anyway when I found it I took the first can and thankfully for some reason I checked the expiration date which I don't normally to find that it was expired on March 2006! I went back to the stack and managed to find one that would expired on August 2010 but there was a bunch that had already expired from 2006 on. I went to the Customer Service and told the guy and he seemed concerned or like he was listening to me and when a manger happened to walk pass us and he told the manager the manager didn't even seemed like he cared!I was shocked but I don't care my ass is not the one that will get sued if someone actually get sick from eating it after I already told them. I am just curious to see if they actually threw it away but I'm not going to waste my time and gas to drive there for nothing!

Now I have to decide what to make for dinner on Wednesday night. Two nights down just three more nights to go!Hubby took the leftover chicken and made a salad for lunch on Tuesday so we are not going to be having salad again on Wednesday.

Stimulating the economy

Personally I think the government of the USA should have more public holidays. We only have a handful of public holidays a year unlike Asian countries. I think that when is an extended weekend or when there is a public holiday people will definitely go out and do stuff hence they will be spending money. I feel that every time when there is a public holiday hubs and I would help stimulate the economy too so since the economy not doing too well I think they should have more public holiday so that people will spend their money (not us hopefully).

This time round the damages done to our bank accounts or doing our part in stimulating the economy for this extended holiday would be

A) Finally bought my Oakley Asian Fit that I talked about here. The hubs was getting tired of hearing me talk about dragging my feet to buy them for over a year now that he just bought me one :). Since they don't have it at the Oakley stores we had to order online. Hopefully these babies will last me a long time!

B) We went over to Ikea on Saturday morning and bought some nick nacks. It wasn't a lot but it did add up very quickly though :(

C) We went to Cosco and Sams and bought I am not sure what but spend a couple of hundred. Seriously we bought stuff but is not a lot and I don't even recall or seeing it. The only thing I recall is buying King Size Pillows and a few pairs of socks..Apart from that I seriously don't remember. I know that we didn't drop any money on groceries because I already got our groceries on my many trips to the store myself during the week.

D) Finally our biggest purchases for the weekend..Three brand new toilets for the house! When we moved in we knew that we were going to be changing the flooring in the bathrooms therefore we decided to wait till then to change the toilets.

If I was working in the White House and they ask my suggestions on how to stimulate the economy I think having extended holidays would be the best way. People will definitely spend more money on extended holiday because I'm a good example!:P

Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Mee II

Hubs and I got up today and decided that we were just going to chill around. We decided to head over to Ikea to have breakfast and just walk around to see what they had on sale for Labor Day Weekend. There was not many things that really interest us hence we just bought some odds and ends. After Ikea we stopped by at some shoe store because I was thinking of getting a pair of heels (don't ask me why I don't really wear them anyway lol) and after that we met Uncle Richie at the Harley Davidson dealership to look at some bike because Uncle Richie and hubs is thinking of getting one.
Since I bought a bunch of stuff here I decided to whip up some hokkien mee for dinner tonight as I've been wanting there for weeks now!

Recipe adapted from here


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 used Japanese Udon)
100g meat (pork or chicken) - cut into thin slices(I used minced pork because that's all I have at home)
150g prawns, shell and devein
100 g squid - cut into bite size
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 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.

Serve with sambal belacan

sambal belacan:

5 fresh red chillies - cut small (I used some green Jalapeno because I had not enough red ones)
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 am not sure how many times I've actually made this dish ever since I moved down here. This dish remains my favorite dish but of course it doesn't taste as good as the hawker stores back home in Malaysia. For the mean time until I get to go home again this is enough to satisfy my cravings. For some weird reason even when I go back to Malaysia I don't really eat a lot of the ethnic food there I'm not sure why but I'm thinking because of the lack of time. There is a lot of food that I've been wanting to eat before going home but don't get to eat them. Maybe before I go home next time I should have a list of food that I want to eat before I come back again!

Found it!

I've been searching for an Asian grocery store closer to my house for quite some time so that I don't have to stock up on some of the items in my house. I normally go to the Asian store about 35minutes from my house which is not too bad but then I have to pay several tolls to get there too so I've been hoping to find one closer to home and no need to pay toll. I know of one that's closer to my house but I don't like driving through to get there because there is a lot of stop signs on my way there.

Those who are living in Houston and if you are living near Memorial I found Super H Mart. When I was driving to this place I got a little annoyed because my darn GPS was taking all sorts of places and if you are living in Houston you know that some places you just don't want to be there. On my way home I found out that there is actually a straight shot way there. Anyway I was hoping that my drive would be worth it moreover is just about 7.5 miles from my house with no tolls! When I arrived there and went it was all worth it. The produce department was all nicely stacked and it looks nice and fresh like shopping in Krogers but with a vast variety of selection of fruits and vegetables. The meat and seafood department was not far behind with the selection and the cleanliness. I was awe by the selection and the stuff it was available at this store!

This place has a nice looking food court with lots of Korean food served there. Next time when I go there I'm going to have some Korean food. It has a little bakery that serves Asian bread and pastries too.

The most important about this store is when you walk in there is no weird smell/odor. Some of the Asian grocery store here when you walk in there is the pungent smell and the hubs hates it. It is not like I love smelling it but I tolerate it because I get to buy stuff so if hubs is with me he'll be rushing me so with Super H Mart I'm sure he won't be rushing me.

I'll still need to go to the other Asian grocery store to get spices and some stuff because they don't have everything here but at least for a lot of things I don't need to drive that far to get it.

I'm so happy that I decided to visit this store today because now I have all the ingredients I need to cook Hokkien Mee that I've been craving for weeks now.

Lastly the price of this place is comparable to the rest of the Asian grocery store and the normal grocery store like Krogers or HEB.

Super H Mart
1302 Blalock Rd
Houston, TX 77055

Deciding on what to cook

Does anyone out there have any problems on thinking what to cook for dinner every night? I have problems most of the time thinking what to cook for dinner. When I have craving for something it is easier because then I'll know what I should cook if not hubby is no help at all most of the time and me I'm just not that picky. I know a lot of people have a menu/schedule on what they will eat 3 meals a day but I'm not able to do that because the hubs and I change our mind quite frequently. I can tell the hub that I'm making this or that for dinner and when dinner comes he tells me he doesn't feel like having that *slap head* just like a little kid! Some days I have no problem just whipping up something but this two weeks every since the hubs been sick I just run out of ideas what I want to make for dinner. I know that he doesn't have much appetite and I don't want to cook too heaty food for him (like fried/grill/bake) but there is only so much food you can cook and he'll eat.
Monday we had leftovers from Sunday which consist of rice and curry chicken. Tuesday we had soup and Wednesday we had steak on the grill with potatoes. Today I am not sure what I want to make!Hubby suggested salad which I have lettuce in the refrigerator but I am think he might change his mind when he gets back. I don't really want to eat salads lately so even if he wants salad tonight I would be eating other thing which most likely means instant noodles if I don't think of anything to cook.
Days when we just say ok we don't know what to eat let's just eat out. There is the problem of where to eat!We'll discuss and think about it until we are fed up and go back to the same old place again!I'm just wondering how everyone else out there decided where or what to eat everyday? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Vegetable Chowder Soup

I love soups! I can drink soup anytime of the year where as for hubby and some people apparently soup is great for winter months to warm our bodies and is too hot for summer because is already hot in summer. I'm from Malaysia and we drink soup all the time therefore it doesn't really bother me whether it is summer or winter when I feel like having soupy food. I am starting to not like to drink soup in the middle of scorching summer though (maybe I'm with hubby too much :P) but I'm don't mind it actually and since hubs doesn't care for soup in summer I just don't make it because I don't want to finish leftovers myself.
Anyway the weather has cooled down a wee bit nothing major is still about low 90's F and hubby is still coughing plus so tired and drained from working so much that he didn't have much appetite to eat. I don't know what to make for dinner and I've been cooking rice for the past few days so I knew he doesn't really want to eat rice again last night although he said he don't care.
I came across a soup recipe and I knew I had to try it but I also know that it is still summer so I wasn't sure whether hubs would reject to the idea. I asked hub what he wanted for dinner and he didn't care and was too tired to think about it. So I told him that we were having soup and garlic bread and did not complain what so ever.

I knew I had most of the ingredients needed hence I didn't need to go out to buy any thing else even if I didn't have it I thought I would make do with what I had. In the evening, I started getting my ingredients ready. I also made sure the hubs called me when he was on his way back so I that it'll be just in time for the soup to be ready when he gets home.

Recipe adapted from here
Ingredients
1/2 chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
1 cup each diced potato, celery, cau­li­flower, carrot and broc­coli(I didn't have cauliflower so I omitted that)
3 cups water
3 chicken bouil­lon cubes (or just 3 cups of chicken broth to replace water and bouil­lon)
1 tea­spoon salt(omitted)
3 garlic cloves or 1-2 tsp of garlic powder
1/4 tea­spoon pepper
1/2 cup flour or arrowroot powder
2 cups milk (I used about 3 cups)
1 Tbls minced fresh pars­ley
1/8-1/4 tsp of each the following spices: paprika, coriander, ground mustard (increase as desired)
2-3 cups shred­ded ched­dar cheese (can be adjusted as desired, as I rarely use more than 2 cups of cheese)
*optional-1 cup of meat (sausage/deli meat/ground beef or pork or chicken-anything you have)

Method

In a Dutch oven or large pot, saute green pepper, garlic, onion and butter until tender. Add vegetables, meat, water, bouil­lon, salt and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 min­utes or until the veg­eta­bles are tender. Com­bine flour and milk until smooth; stir into pan. Allow to thicken at a low temperature. Add the pars­ley and other spices. Just before serv­ing, stir in the cheese until melted. Yield: 6-8 servings. This chowder freezes very well also! Just allow room for expansion.

p/s: I had no time to take my own picture because we gobbled down the soup so fast that I only have about a scoop of soup left!

It took a little longer to soften the vegetables than I thought. Since I had a huge pot and didn't want any left overs I called Uncle Richie and Aunt L to see if they wanted soup and bread for dinner which they said yes. Hubby said that it sounds so french when I told him we were having soup and bread lol.

Everyone loves this soup I for one because I love chowder soup and this one actually taste like the one you can get at the restaurant. I am so happy with this recipe and most of the ingredients I actually have in my refrigerator or freezer. I added the cup of meat since we were going to only have soup for dinner and nothing else so I figured so meat in the soup would be a nice. I used deli meat because when hubby buys them and he don't finish them that week I'll put it in the freezer before it goes bad. I will use them in omelet or I'll toss some in western soup that I make.

I will definitely make this soup again especially in winter because the soup is so nice and warming. You can always modify the recipe to adapt to ingredients you have available.