Christmas Eve Dinner 2008

Hi folks, I'm back again to blog... looks like I have today, the final day to update my blog. PC will be going to the new house tomorrow morning and I won't have time to hook it up until after I return from Langkawi on the 2nd Jan.

I'm so glad the "Christmas eve dinner" is over. I took many weeks to prepare and sleepless nights thinking about the menu and how to get things done. All food made that night was a first time for me, so there's always this fear that something might not turn out as expected. Luckily there was no major disaster. Eveything went well and according to schedule. Only regret is I forgot to snap a pix of one dish and the buffet table :(

Let's see what I served 3 toddlers and 13 adults (from Mal's immediate family):

a medium sized roast turkey - bought from EuroDeli, w/out stuffing but with black pepper sauce and ribena sauce (can you imagine, instead of cranberry sauce they made ribena sauce??) - RM190

We had so much leftover of turkey meat. Lasted us another 3 meals. I made ABC soup with some turkey bones today. Yummy. I also made homemade stuffing for the turkey. This is the one dish I didn't take a photo of. It tasted great...

Cucumber sandwich

quinoa salad with lime dressing

ham & asparagus quiche - love this

pesto pasta salad - yummy

and finally the trusty old KFC (just in case the food wasn't enough).

Everyone enjoyed their meal and had a good time. We exchanged presents and the children opened theirs. Sunnyboy was so happy coz he got mostly vehicles :)

We sang some xmas carols and sunny boy danced and sang too.

P/S: Remember the fruitcake I made a month ago here?? It was a major disaster! Too sour... I knew I shouldnt have put in apple cider vinegar. Of all substitutes??? No one liked it.... *sob sob* Didn't bother to take a picture of it also...

Early Christmas Wish

Countdown

1 day to x'mas eve party (my hair is falling by the thousands and I

haven't colored my grey hair yet)

7 days to Langkawi trip (am not sure if I'm ready to ENJOY)

13 days to sunny boy's 1st day of kindy (he's still not getting up at 7am!)

We are in the midst of moving to the new house, painting four rooms, and getting the house really clean. It hasn't been cleaned (swept and mopped) for a year!!

Lots to do but so little time.

In case I don't get to update my blog this week, I would like to wish my dear readers a

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2009!!!!!

Haha daddy just scolded sunny boy for not listening to him....

Country Barn Restaurant & Pub

A couple of weeks ago we had dinner at this restaurant. After reading the food review on Flavours magazine Nov-Dec 2008 issue, I told Mal that we should try it out. It sounded too good to be true... real Malaccan Portugese food with home-cooked recipes. And they serve ambilla? Ambilla is a kind of curry which Mal grew up on. He's half "Portugese", that's why :)

According to Mal, who actually hung out there many years ago, this place is a pub. I wasn't expecting it to really look, feel, and smell like a pub though. The pictures on the review looked like a decent place to have a family dinner.

As we entered, there were only 2 person sitting by the bar, enjoying a beer & smoking. This place is sooo dark that you can't see your food. I requested for a non-smoking section and was told that there isn't any such section. Note to self: don't come here again!

Here's what we ordered:

Eggplant/brinjal soy limang (lime juice & soy sauce) - not bad. Liked it...

fried cincalok (fermented tiny shrimps) omellete - this one has a strong freezer smell. Not sure if it's meant to be like this

beef ambilla - beef was real tough, curry didn't have enough oomph

fried rice - this is the best of all, moist & tasty rice

Did you notice that they garnish almost all their dishes with deep fried shallots?? I dislike them very much especially commercially made ones (heard of many horror true stories about how they are made). It just spoils the taste of the food.

I believe I won't visit this place again. The food is nothing to shout about, and the environment is just not family friendly.

3, USJ 11/3

Subang Jaya
Tel: 03-5637-6818
Food served from 11.30am till 10pm

A Glimpse Into Our Yellow Home

In exactly 5 days (20th Dec) we will collect the keys to our rented house in PJ. I have not even begun packing. Christmas is 10 days from now and sunny boy will begin school 21 days from now!! What a busy month and New Year we are going to have. Lots of changes in our routine and lives :)

I am slowly missing our yellow home. My favourite place in the house is the (my) kitchen. And it's sunny and cheery too. YELLOW!! I think yellow is my favourite color ;) The cabinets and counter tops were specially built to fit my needs, meaning higher than normal counter top, and lots of cabinet space to store all the pots, pans, baking accessories, more pans, ingredients, plates, containers, etc.

Let me give you a tour into that lovely kitchen...

First you come in and you will see my garden on the right. Took 3 years to achieve this stage. Lots of brown/burn out spots? My dog's pee!

I like this area... I have many wind-chimes hung on the pergola. Love the sound of metalic wind-chimes...

Another view of garden

Before you enter the house, you will be greeted by Miss Cheusi. Don't be put off by her size and stare. She's a real friendly giant.

This is where she likes to sleep. Under the shoe cabinet. The shoe cabinet height has been thoughfully fitted so that it is just an inch higher than the height of a medium size dog (like Bullet, my ex-dog and now Cheusi).

Now you open the main door to the house... this is our living room. Quite bare because sunny boy cycles in the house ;)

View from the left side of the main door. See the orange rattan chair? Here's the story - I was driving around in PJ section 19.. then I saw a rattan chair by the side of a furniture mall guard house. It looks like it was in good condition. But someone has thrown it there in place of a new sofa set. I went in to ask if I could take it. They said sure. I called Mal and he came with a pick up truck and brought it home to our first rented house. That was in 2004. The chair didnt come with cushions, so I got them custom made at a shop. It has served us very well. Now that we are moving to a bigger house, we will have to get a proper sofa set, BUT I'm still gonna bring this chair with us. It's comfortable to sit on you know...

This is still the living hall... sunny boy's play area and wall of family photos :) From here you walk straight into the kitchen area....

Ta da! Welcome to my yellow kitchen... where good and healthy food is produced here but not widely accepted by 2 fussy eaters ;)

This is where I stand and do all the chopping and cutting, preparation of food. Sinks comes with a tap each. All planned out.

I've got a long L-shape kitchen. Actually it's just enough for me to work in. I wanted to put an island somewhere, but... not enough space for that. At the end of the L-shape is where the dryer and washing machine sits. The wooden door goes out to the washing area, and then out to the back of the house.

The larder and 2nd fridge for fruits, cold drinks, and sauces. I love the larder.... don't know how I can live w/out one. Also don't know how I can do w/out 2 fridges. Notice that I also love fridge magnets. Cute cute ones. *there's more than enough hints for you to know what to get me for Xmas* lol

Our small dining table. Also where I take photos of my finished food shots.

That's all now.... maybe I will show you my PC room next... where I spend late nites surfing and blogging when everyone else is asleep.

Festive Fun-tasy at NZX

A couple of days ago we went to Niu Ze Xui, a newly opened commercial center located in Ara Damansara. Lots of stalls selling cool stuff and some eateries as well. I would not have known of its existence if it wasnt for their "Festive Fun-tasy at NZX"'s banners. Since they close at midnight, I thought it would be ideal to go about 10+ after our dinner.

Mal wasn't too impressed with the idea of colourful lights and Disney characters. Dont' mind him, he's never been to Disneyland ;)

Entrance to the parking area...

Some of the characters on display...

This one's taken outside a store cafe (sells food and cool stuff)

Ticket price was not cheap. RM10 per adult. Child above 90cm is RM5. And you only need to spend about 5 minutes to view everything. With two adult tickets, you get a free picture with one background (character) taken by the event's photographer.

You then wait 10 minutes for them to print out the photo. Then they will insert the photo into a booklet. Like a souvenir thingy.

If you have nothing to do and haven't been to NZX, do drop by. I bet the CNY lights and lanterns will be pretty too.

Ikan Sepat Belimbing Buluh

Recently mom-in-law gave me some belimbing buluh (real small and sour fruit) coz I requested for it to make fish curry. This fruit is about the length of a thumb and is normally cooked as a sour and spicy dish. They are not easily available in supermarkets. Not sure about night markets...For more info on belimbing buluh, go here.

I found a delicious sounding recipe from here. There are no exact measurements of ingredients given, so I just used my instincts. Turned out pretty tasty. Will definitely cook it again :)

Here's my version of it:

7-8 ikan sepat masin – soak 30-45min, change water a couple times, then drain well and fry
20 small Belimbing buluh
1 grated coconut + 1C water , squeezed to make 2C coconut milk

Pound to make paste:
8 shallots
4 garlic
2cm turmeric
2cm ginger
20 small cili padi

Dry fry/toast and pound/grind coarsely:
1 tsp biji ketumbar (coriander seeds)
½ tsp jintan putih (cumin seeds)
1/2 tsp jintan manis (aniseeds)

I got these lovely ikan sepat masin from our Penang trip. You must soak them for at least 30 minutes to remove excessive salt and wax coating the fish. Fry in oil like how you would fry fresh fish. This is not necessary, but does help in keeping them from breaking up when being boiled for long.

Pound all spice ingredients with a mortal and pestle.

Clockwise from L to R: coriander, cumin, aniseed

freshly squeeze coconut milk, spice paste and ground dry spices

wash and drain the belimbing buluh well. Cut off the head and tails

What to do:

Heat about 1.5 TBSP oil, fry the spice paste and seeds till oil surface Add in all the coconut milk, let it boil

Then add in belimbing and fried fishSeason to taste with sugar or salt (but taste first before adding any salt). Boil a little while more.

Dish up. So easy and tasty. Very appetizing... you can replace the belimbing buluh with semi ripe pineapples chopped to bite size.