Comfort Food: Tofu, Tang Hoon and Minced Meat Soup

I was thinking of what to cook as the boyfriend was having bad stomach and I don't want to cook stuff that needs lots of oil. So I checked the fridge and found these ingredients. Of course I did stir fry some vegetable and meat to go with rice else the boyfriend will whine even more.

So it is extremely easy but extremely yummy too.

Ingredients
Minced meat (depends on how much you want to cook but mine was about RM2 only)
1 Tbsp Tong Chai (preserved vege - check out my post on tips to prepare easy meals)
Soy Sauce
Pepper
Half a packet of Tofu (RM0.79 one from Tesco)
Some Tang Hoon - Washed (Glass Noodle)

Super simple right? Almost can find all the ingredients at home. So next we'll look at how I cook it, extremely easy.
1. First, mix the minced meat with the tong chai. Please wash the tong chai first okay? You don't want sand in your soup.
2. After that, add pepper and soy sauce into the meat to taste.
3. Fill a 1/4 or 1/2 of water into a small pot. You can start with lesser water if you are not sure cause you can add more water if you want later. DO NOT put a lot of water in the pot if it is your first time.
4. Add tofu into the soup and let it boil.
5. Finally, add some tang hoon into the soup and let it boil for a while more.
6. Your soup is finally ready. =)

AWESOME DISH!!! Warms the boy's tummy..and mine too.. <3

I need peace

I have been thinking of my future lately. I know God has His plans for me but I somehow will start thinking of what I want to be and then I get all stressed up. Since I am doing my Masters now, people are expecting me to venture into the teaching line, hopefully in USM. But I am not sure if that's my passion.

I have tried business twice, once selling clothes with my sister and then I started my own accessories online shop on my own (read: Little Poupee). I am not sure what I am doing wrong but it's not going as well as I've expected even though my things are wayyy cheaper than most of the shops online and I even sell the same stuff as some of them.

Then I have another business idea, and then another. Business is all I think of but I am too afraid to venture into anything, especially since I have no capital. I have no peace and I know I am taking too much control when God knows best. I need peace to continue my Masters and get it over with. Then I can sit down and think through properly. But then again, opportunities might slip away, yet again. God, lead me and guide me. Show me Your way.


wise words from the eldest sister:-
Get a job first. Work and gain experience. When you have the capital, you can start your business. Your business will be successful if your plan is good.

2nd sis:-
Get a supplier first and don't just worry for nothing.

(The 2nd sis called me upon my 'desperate' message and I talked to her while I rolled on the bed. That's how I roll. =P)

This verse comforts me. Saw it in a friend's blog (read: Sarah). It was also the verse during my 2nd time being a Crew Leader in VBS that stuck in my head for years now.

[Jeremiah 29:11] "I have it all planned out, says the Lord. Plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for"

Thank You Lord!

Reasons I'm broke

If you are my friend or you read my Facebook status, you would have known that I was so broke I had to leech on my friend's refillable juices (which in the end another friend offered me her glass since she can share with her other half) and refillable chips on our night out.

#1 reason is that the boyfriend and I just invested on a new camera.
If you know me in person, you would have heard about my story on how I lost my camera. It just slipped off my lap and I didn't notice till I'm home. I was too excited to find a parking spot to notice that I dropped my camera. So, I was camera-less for about 3 months before I decided that I cannot continue to grief for my camera for another year. So we went scouting for a good camera but to no avail. God must have seen us so miserable and sent a friend who was promoting a 2nd hand Lumix GF3 at RM1.2k for her another friend. Saw the status update on Thursday, arranged for meet up on Friday and parted with our RM1.2k for the camera. People have been telling us that we made a good choice so fingers crossed.

#2 student kept canceling my class
My student is done with his exam and has cancelled two weeks of class for holiday. Hopefully he won't  cancel yet another class so that I can earn some money. I did enjoy my two week break to go exercise and have proper breakfast in the morning though.

#3 too many people having birthday on the same month and the month after
Been buying presents and going out for makan way too often for this poor student. Besides, friends are all working now and they don't feel the pinch as much as I do. I guess sometimes it sucks to be a student.

However, through this, I've been blessed too and I shall rejoice!!

blessing #1 got a part time job
The boyfriend and I got some event job going on for 3 days (not consecutively) and will be paid RM75 with lunch. I think it's quite good an offer and I look forward to that experience. Asked three other friends to join me and am looking forward to it. Will probably work some more if the guy needs us cause RM75 is pretty good.

blessing #2 our new camera is love!
We did not get cheated by Tesco for a lesser camera cause I insisted on going to Starbucks in SP to leech on their line and do some research before buying anything. Turns out, the normal price stated on the brochure was probably the price when it was released. They forgot to mention that the price of the camera has since dropped RM500 (the exact amount they said they are giving a discount).

blessing #3 awesome friends who shared drinks and family who don't mind treating us
We've been blessed with great friends who loves us despite us being poor =P You know your friends are awesome when they don't run away embarrassed by you. And the familia (both the boyfriend's and mine) has been treating us with good food. That being said, we are saving by cooking at home and less eat outs. Luckily anniversary is still about 2 months away so we can save a little. When I updated my status on my Facebook that I'm so broke, I even had a friend who said she won't mind having me over for dinner. I am such a well-loved leech.

blessing #4 just by having one another
Cause we can be at home, doing our stuff (him playing his batman game and I blogging or reading) and still have a good time, laughing at one another. Although that being said, a bowl of Blackball will be very much welcomed. We make each other laugh for no apparent reason which is why I love him so much. And also cause he cooks breakfast and supper. I do lunch and dinner and even tea but not breakfast.

Breakfast at Ferringhi Garden

What better way than to start a day with scrumptious breakfast right? My second sis decided to bring mum and I for 'atas' breakfast at Ferringhi Garden. Their food is great, food presentation is awesome and best of all, they are really not that expensive. We woke up at 8am and got ready to my sister's place. I will have a class at 11am and we want to spend as much time as possible enjoying the breakfast. No pictures of surrounding ( I will brush up on my skills and also get a camera soonest)

Egg Benedict with two slices of ham. Less than RM20. Probably about RM16-RM17

Mummy's Latte - at only RM8 I think. Comes with a small cookie too. And my refreshing mix fruit juice at only RM8.90.

Pao's Mocha at top right. Lookie, they even have a small cookie. At RM12.

Chicken Sausage and Egg. Yums.

Their service was top notch, very polite foreign waiter and waitresses. They were very attentive, polite and refilled our water all the time. Their warm water was in cups instead of glass. And it's FOC.

The food presentation is great with beautiful eating area. The price is quite okay. I don't mind indulging in this once in a while. I'll probably have to work harder but look at these food!!!

Oh by the way, if you see my blog posts on weekends, they are usually scheduled post cause I'm mad busy on weekends and I don't usually online on weekends to spend more time with the family.

Book hunt

Ever since my sem break started, I have been into reading story books and have read about 10-12 books this holiday. Reading wasn't my favourite past time and I barely finish a story book (unless they are of short stories) but holiday alone, I surprised myself. In fact, I've been looking for more books to read. If only I feel the same for academic books which I really need to read for my dissertations.

Some of the good reads I've done:-

Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Boy No One Loved - Casey Watson (Looking for all her books) Damn sad stories but it keeps me reading more!
A Walk To Remember - Nicholas Sparks
Last Lecture
The Best of Me - Nicholas Sparks

Anyways, want I really wanted to blog about is that my mother and boyfie brought me out on a beautiful Saturday (when my student cancelled a class and I got a Saturday to myself). We went to Queens street for breakfast and look around for some of my Sunday School stuff. Then we went to Chulia Street where the mother brought me to a friend's shop to buy some 2nd hand book. Finished the two books within a week.

After that, we went for a small snack at Eco Cafe or something. Love the juices. Went to GM Stationaries to grab more stuff for Sunday School before heading home and then went through a whole lot of running around trying to get things done in church. What was supposed to be a day to unwind ended up to be the busiest of the lot.

I can haz lights on my head

The pizza. RM19 (not cheap at all but the smell of cheese tempted us in)

The mother. <3

Us reading while waiting for our food.

Fresh Orange Juice

The boyfie with beautiful eyes.

Basically they are my two drivers who drives me around all the time to places I want to go but unable to go on my own. Mad love them.

Pasar Ramadan at Sungai Petani

Can you see the canopies? That's how long the whole pasar ramadan was.

before we started our journey

It's only 25 cents each piece, small but much more worth it than the ones in Penang, same size, double the price.

Love all the kuih here. I bought Seri Muka, Black Glutinous Rice with Pandan and a few others.

This stall also sells all kuih at 25 cents each. Next year I am going back to Sungai Petani for many many days during their puasa month and eat all the kuih I can.

All the lepats. Did not buy any though

Bought my all time favourite samosa and cucur badak.

Crazy huge karipap at RM1.50. Love.

Crazy huge cucur udang also

Mango Salad. Too bad the boyfie's mum cooked. Else I would happily indulge in one.

Eu Char Kueh. The boyfie's favourite. But we did not buy this

Mad cheap fried chicken. Here where got fried chicken at RM1.20 or RM1.50. Irregardless of the size, the fried chicken here are at least RM2 lor. Sometimes you get like super tiny ones and during such season, they can sell you at RM3 - RM3.50 each and you'll still buy it (conciously or not).

Lots of awesome dishes.

Imma come back next year and try.

Roasting at the back

Chicken and beef satay at only 35 cents each. In Penang, the cheapest I've seen is 40cents for chicken and 45cents for beef.

This pasar ramadan was somewhere near Taman Ria. It is so mad cheap that the boyfie and I went O.o when we see the price. Bought some snacks back as the boyfie's mother had already planned to cook dinner. Will go back there again one day and indulge in this goodness!!!

Invitation to Judith's kitchen

While everyone lined up for the BR craze last Wednesday, I got an invitation (because I damn thick-skin) to Judith's house to make cake pops. Glad I took up that invitation cause the line for BR is insane, I'm amazed by my fellow countrymen. Their patience and determination is to be applauded (or not). The boyfriend is not amused cause they caused traffic jams and I know very well how the boyfriend hates having people hogging/blocking the road and causing traffic jam.

Anyways, back to the cake pop story. Judith is my sister's schoolmate and I somehow stumbled upon her blog and soon added her in my facebook. She bakes a lot and she enjoys cooking. I love to see pictures of what she cook but I never follow her recipe cause she doesn't cook simple meal and I'm lazy.

She stays relatively near to my place and so we went over to her place to bake. She was baking the pops when I reached. So I joined her students in her kitchen with the boyfriend. We had fun decorating the cake pops. The boyfriend had fun too. I'm glad the boyfriend loves baking and cooking as much as I do although I usually do the mixing and he do the stirring.

The Deco items

Boyfie trying to coat one.

cake pops before deco

rainbow cake that she gave us some to sample

beautifully coated cake pops

more!!

 

 

 

The sister has been asking me to find for the cake pop molds cause she wanna make some too. Couldn't find it anywhere. Anybody knows where we can get it in Penang? =)

Haze is burning

Well, it started with burning and now it burns!!! My eyes are stinging, my skin feels weird, I have got irritable nose and wind that blows are strangely warm too. I have not been cooking much nor have I been baking at all. I did whip up easy pancake without eggs one day for tea which appears to be quite yums so no more pre mix. Not that we can finish the pre-mix mixture anyway.

Anyways, that aside. Haze has gone from bad to worse. I can barely see buildings. One day in car, I asked the boyfriend, "Is it very hazy outside or something is wrong with my eyes? Everything seems so blur." Well, my eyes are perfectly fine apart from the stinging effect, so.

The air is filled with smoke and it's such a torture to be in Penang right now. =( I usually have my weekdays free to prepare for my thesis and also my tuition lesson plans while weekends I'll be running about like a headless chicken trying to get everything done with tuitions and Sunday school and meetings and meetups with friends. But I still enjoy my weekends. And praise God for bringing me through it every week, giving me strength to wake up at godly hours and stay up till late at night.

I have 4 more days to do other stuff before weekends come again and I'll be busy again. And I am not complaining about that. I am thankful for everything, my students, my little income, my family, my students in SS. Will put up recipe on eggless pancake and maybe some other stuff I cooked if I can find any pictures on my ipod to transfer over. =)

Half stalking

A day after Audrey from fourfeetnine.com's wedding, the boyfie and I decided to go Straits Quay after dinner, just to walk around. We used to enjoy doing that until I started giving tuition on weekends and SQ charge RM1 parking fee with first hour free.

Anyway, after walking around looking at all the new shops in SQ and the stalls (tempted to buy hair bow clip - super cheap RM2.50 only), I told the boyfie I want to see the convention center where Audrey held her wedding dinner reception. The boyfie went looking for the directory and brought me to the convention center. We saw the poster on the way and I had to take picture.

 

So now I also got picture to show. =P We were there like 9.20pm so we were a little scared that they will lock us in there. But we managed to get to the convention center and if you want to know, they did not remove the name + table list. But almost everything else was gone except for a little rubbish here and there. After the boyfie checked out some of the building plans by E&O on display there, we went down to see the PenangPAC before taking the lift back to ground floor and happily go home. I did not manage to see celebrity blogger on Saturday night but I saw the poster on Sunday night. =P Good enough.

ps: I am really not a stalker though the boyfie says I was stalking. I was just curious alright?

Sunshine Square Pasar Ramadhan

This bazaar is situated at the mosque behind Sunshine Square market. It was my first time there and it was crazy. It's super huge, at the compound of the mosque and has over 50 stalls (although most of the stalls are repeated).

 4 rows of stalls like this and this is just like 1/4 the of one of the row. We were spoiled for choice. However, the kuih this time around did not interest me. I am a kuih person but due to the price and size of the kuih, I decided not to get them since I can get cheaper ones in USM.

This is the Nasi Kerabu that the boyfie and all my other friends who went with me recommended. Apparently it's the nicest and the uncle used to sell it at USM's bazaar. The bazaar has stopped operating since last year as USM students are on holiday during this time. I don't know why they love the Nasi Kerabu but I will post up again the next time I go there and get the Nasi Kerabu before fasting season ends.

I had Nasi Lemak but would love to get some lemang next time around just to try and share the pictures. Go to Sunshine Square's Pasar Ramadan if you can within the next two weeks!! You'll not regret it. =)

Dark Soy Sauce Chicken

I have always loved dark soy sauce with chicken or pork. The boyfie and I love having some gravy on our dishes and it is one of the easiest thing to cook cause I get to multitask by letting the chicken simmer in the dark soy sauce broth while I wash up or prepare other things. Mine is perhaps a little different or even just the same as others but I did not bother to look up for recipe and has always been just cooking according to my own way. I do a lot of tasting test while cooking just to make sure it is right.

Basically these things are quite easily available at home and if you have any meat, you can cook them.

Ingredients:-

7-8 pieces of chicken (or sliced pork) the amount for this is totally up to you.
2 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
4 tablespoon of soy sauce (can add somemore during cooking if it is not enough)
3 teaspoon of sugar
pepper to taste
1-2 onions. Cut into wedges.
100 ml water.

Additional ingredients:-
2 potatoes cubed
half a carrot (or more depending on your preference) cubed

Method:-
1. First marinate the chicken or pork slices with dark soy sauce, soy sauce, sugar and pepper.
2. Leave in the fridge for about 30 minutes to 1 hour (if you have lesser time to marinate, you can still go on with it but taste better if you have at least 30 minutes).
3. When you are ready to cook, heat up a tablespoon of oil and stir-fry the onions. Mix carrots and potatoes.
4. Then pour the marinated chicken and the sauce into the wok/pan and add the water.
5. Cover it and allow it to simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Taste the sauce and do some adjustment if needed. Add water if it is too salty or sweet.
6. Allow it to simmer for another 5 minutes and test your chicken by poking a chopstick over it to feel the texture. If it is easy to poke in, it is cooked.

Dish out and it is ready to be served with rice! Love it.

Marshall's Burger

Last Friday, after being caught in jam and having a bad time making delivery order, we simply eat something for dinner and kept some space in our tummy empty for Marhsall's Burger. It's a new burger stall operated by my friends whom I have known for about a decade.

Burger and I are just mere acquaintance but burger and the boyfie is like BFF or soulmate or something. He loves his burger and the thought of having burger, whatmore a beef one sends his saliva dripping. However, the normal beef burger in the normal burger stall or McD is not good enough to satisfy him. In fact, not enough to make me feel that it's worth it either. They are often very thin and sometimes hard. The boyfie always complains that somehow the beef burger tend to reduce in size after cooking more than the chicken burger. So we stopped ordering beef burger altogether.

Anyway, when we got to Marshall's burger stall at about 10pm, there were a few people there. Soon, more came and we were among the 10 or so people surrounding the stall waiting for our burger.

We ordered the Bull RM8 with 175g beef patties, 2 slices of cheddar cheese and one strip of bacon. Boyfie added another bacon strip with a surcharge of RM1.

We love how thick the patty is after grilling. The patty is so soft and juicy compared to the hard and thin ones from other shop. The bread is soft and fluffy too. I love how the bread do not simply become soggy due to excessive sauce but just fluffy. Also cause they do not add in sauce like chili, tomato or even mayonaise. Just the burger and the special sauce that comes with it. AWESOME. Even my Ah Ma with few teeth can eat this. At RM9, I think it's an awesome burger (especially in Penang). And I don't comment much on burger. Although Oink Oink (a pork burger stall in many pasar malam) is selling pork burger, I think this one is more worth the money compared to that because that burger is so much smaller with very little vege and really cut throat at RM5. We ended our Friday night happily.

If you are in Penang, you should try this.

 Location:- Beside New Cathay coffee shop opposite Belissa Row.
Check them out on their facebook page.

Malaysian Style Ice-Pop

Got the ice-pop bag from Tesco at RM3.90 for 100 pieces or 300 pieces, can't remember. Anyway, I decided to do the old school flavour this time around cause I have the ingredients with me. This was done about 2-3 weeks ago and we finished all 12 of it yesterday.

It is extremely easy and fun to do.

Milo Flavour
Make milo just like how you like it, with sugar or with milk (you need this cause ice pops are supposed to be sweet) =P If you are going the healthy way then you can omit this. Then just pour the milo into a bottle and insert Milo into the plastic bags. Freeze for a few hours or a day and then you can have yummy ice pops tomorrow.

Assam Buey Flavour
I love my assam buey (plum) ice-cream and ice pops. Love the sweet and soury taste. I tried to search online on how to do it but I didn't find any recipes. So perhaps I'll put mine up.

I bought some assam for my tomato plum + pineapple blended juice some time back so I just use the same assam.

Ingredients
6-10 pieces of assam (lesser if your assam is more sour or salty)
2 pieces of rock sugar
100ml water

1. Boil the water. Add in rock sugar and stir them till they are dissolve.
2. Add assam into the water and stir the liquid over fire. This is to ensure that the flavour of assam gets into the water.
3. Let the liquid cool down and pour into the plastic.
4. Freeze the ice pops.

The boyfie and I enjoying our popsicles. =)

Assam Ko Prawns (Tamarind Juice Prawns)

Daniel and I are like the two biggest fan for prawns. Whenever we are out with the family, we are being showered with prawns (my family, and if there's prawns). Che is allergic to huge prawns (Daniel always tells me how he cannot imagine being allergic to ANY food for that matter), second sis is a small eater and the rest needs to be careful of their food intake. So it's up to Daniel and sometimes I, to eat them. Daniel is much slimmer, so he gets more encouragement to eat. =P

So mum got this super huge prawns for me and I just decided not to use them with stir fry vege cause it'll be such a waste. So I decided to google for recipe to make my all-time favourite Assam Ko Prawns. It is extremely easy to make!!! Love this new discovery of the art of cooking cause everything used to be hard for me.

Ingredients
6-8 prawns (or depending to how many people you are cooking for)
1 1/2  tablespoon of assam/tamarind paste (mix with water later to make assam juice)
1 1/2 tablespoon water (to be mixed with assam paste)
1 tablespoon of sugar (adjust to suit your taste)
a pinch of salt
oil to fry

1. First, wash your prawns clean. You can opt to peel your prawns but I love sucking out juices from my prawns so I decided to leave the shells intact. Do trim the prawns a little (cut off the legs etc)
2. Add water into tamarind or assam paste and squeeze tamarind juice out of it. Do not throw the seed away.
3. Add sugar and salt into tamarind juice and taste it a little. Add more sugar/salt if you want to.
4. Pour the mixture into a container with the prawns and marinate for 30 minutes to 1 hour. The longer you marinate it, the better. Up to 2 hours.
5. Add oil onto pan and pan fry the prawns with the juices until it is well-cooked. I like to put in the seeds of the tamarind as well. You can choose to throw away the seed before frying.

As the recipe I followed, I did not add dark soy sauce as it'll be darker. You can opt to add a little for a nicer colour. BEST to go with white rice!

 

Pardon the quality. Still using ipod to take pictures cause I lost my camera a few months back. =(