Old old friends

I've reconnected w/ some old old old friends in Malaysia via Facebook. Its just so wonderful to hear about their lives now and other friends' news. Yet, it's a bit weird 'coz my memory of them stuck in elementary school! Some of them I have vivid memories of how they looked like a decade ago but for some the name just doesn't ring a bell. So I scanned a few pics in hope that my friend can help me identify their name and where they are now.

This is my graduation pic from kindergarten. Was I mad? I can't remember but sure look that way! :)

Pita bread breakfast - Sausage, Egg & Cheese

We bought a big ol' bag of Whole Wheat Pita Bread from Costco. I'm not a bread person but I can do Pita Bread. Maybe because it's not too bready :)

This morning I've made Pita Bread with Chicken Sausage, Egg & Swiss Cheese. Not bad at all!

Belacan Okra

You can find the original recipe here. I've used mini dried shrimp and pizza pepper flakes instead because that's all I have. I didn't add any salt and pepper since the belacan is already salty enough. **Belacan is a type of fermented ground shrimp paste. Read more about it here.

Ingredients:

• 20 Okras / Lady Fingers (sliced diagonally)
• 4 cloves of garlic (minced)
• A handful of dried shrimp
• Couple sprinkle of pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoon of belacan (I got mine from mytasteofasia)

1. Heat the wok with some olive oil.
2. Stir fry the garlic until semi-golden then add in the dried shrimp.
3. Add belacan and stir fry it slightly then add okras and pepper flakes.
4. Add a tablespoon or so water while stir frying to keep from burning.

Here's how mine look:

Reny's Baby Shower

We had a surprise baby shower for my coworker Reny yesterday. It was a lot of fun. Since she's having a girl, most everything is in PINK. Here are some pics:

Pretty Mama

It took me about a month to stitch those bibs.


BCF - Best Coworkers Forever :)

Uninvited guest - Spiky weed

We have some tall plants mysteriously sprouted and growing so huge in our yard. We kept asking my inlaws what they planted? They kept saying they didn't plant anything there. These plants are now probably 4' tall. It has flowers and spiky fruits. So I took some pics today and thought I'll ask my coworkers tomorrow. Then I decided to google it. After a few searches, I found out what they are -- "Thorn-apple". These plants can be poisonous and hard to kill! First thing I come back tomorrow I'll pull them out! Gotta get them out before seeds mature!!! How did they get there in the first place? I have NO IDEA!!!

I also took some pictures of the Daisy, my fav. shot:

Chicken wrapped in Pandan

We've ordered this dish from Penang restaurant. They used chicken wings for this dish. I used thighs (dark) meat and followed Gert's instruction. It was good! My non-malay family asked, do you eat the leafy thing with it? No, you don't! That's just for the fragrance. Eric said it tasted a bit similar to the satay I made last time.

Before going in oven:


After its out of oven:

Red bean soup (dessert) - 红豆糖水

Red Bean Soup is one of my alltime favorite dessert. I can eat it hot or room temperature or cold, just as good!

Ingredients:

• Red beans (1 cup)
  
• Black rice (1/2 cup)
  
• Small tapioca pearls (1/4 cup)
  
• Palm sugar (4 pieces from package or to taste - can use regular sugar)
  
• Pandan leaf (a few pieces and tie a knot - optional)
  
• Coconut milk (1/3 can)

** Please note that you can alter the measurement per taste. The best part of this is, you can add more water if it's too thick

1. Boil the pandan leaf, red beans and black rice in water (about 6 serving/bowls) for about an hour or when both red beans and rice soft.
2. Add in tapioca pearl and keep stirring the pot. This will prevent tapioca pearl sticking to the bottom of the pot.
   
3. When pearls become clear white, add palm sugar and coconut milk.

Enjoy!

Kimbap - Korean sushi roll

We're having a potluck at work today. So I've decided to make Kimbap. I went to Lotte on Friday to pick up all my ingredients: carrots, spinach, cucumber, and fish cake. The rest of the ingredients I already have: pickle radish, seaweed, sesame oil, sesame seed, imitation crab meat, eggs, rice and salt.

On Sunday I started to cut and prepare all of the stuff:

• Carrots - peel and julienned. Lightly stir fried w/ a sprinkle of salt.
  
• Spinach - rinse it and parboil it in boiled water. Drain it and add a sprinkle salt and a dash of sesame oil.
• Cucumbers - julienned and add a sprinkle of salt.
• Fish cake - lightly pan fried with a little of oil and julienned.
• Pickle radish - julienned
• Imitation crab meat - separate it in smaller portion.

Sunday night I was thinking to myself, heck let's make the egg and rice too so all I have to do on Monday morning is wrap them all up. NOTE: rice and egg SHOULD be the easiest thing to do but I manage to screw it up.

• Eggs - beat in bowl w/ sprinkles of salt. Fry the egg in a pan and make the egg stick by rolling it. Mine ended up sticking to to pan. But it's ok since you can't really tell when it's wrapped.
• Rice - washed and put it in rice cooker. Let the rice cool and add salt, sesame oil and seeds. I woke up this morning, I was like "SH*T, I don't think I press the cook button." When I went to check the rice, it looks cooked but it's VERY MUSHY. I think after hours of keep warm the rice cooked but nasty. I couldn't use that batch so I have to quickly make new rice.
  

To make the roll:

1. Spread thin layer of rice over seaweed paper.
2. Add all the julienned ingredients.
3. Grab one side of the seaweed paper and begin to fold down and roll together tightly.
4. Dab your cutting knife w/ water then cut the roll so the rice won't stick to your knife.

This is how mine turns out. Sorry the pic is not very clear as it's taken with my cell.

I also made the Chicken wrapped in Pandan and Red bean (dessert) soup this weekend. I'll have to post those later.

Pandan Chiffon - Green cake :)

My cousins and I used to make this cake from scratch growing up. When I saw the cake mix on mytasteofasia.com, I just couldn't resist to buy it. It turns out really good and the fragrant brings back lots of memories from childhood. The green color comes from the Pandan extract. It's commonly used in Southeast Asia dishes. Read more about Pandan here.

First I blend 7 eggs, then added the cake mix, then added 3 tablespoon of water and then add in about 3 tablespoon of coconut milk and a pinch of salt. Pop into over for about an hour @ 320°F. Not too sweet and very fluffy!

Oil production in LA

So we all feel the pain w/ gas price going to the roof top but did you know there's oil production in LA??! My father in law was telling us about some article he read on the internet. How oil drilling is happening in LA and company built these fake building to disguise it. Eric, my sis in law and I was like WHAT ARTICLE? CHINESE? Can't be true!!! Then I google it today and what do you know???! It's true! Check out the article from ABC News. Here are some pics too.