Day 88 ... Sweet & Sour Fish

SWEET & SOUR FISH

(WOLF-HERRING)

This evening, I managed to persuade Bryan to prepare a sweet and sour dish. I had taken two pieces of fish to thaw. 

Initially, I thought we could try out a MARMITE sauce on the fish, but Bryan said no, it wouldn't go. 

Crab okay, even chicken. 

But fish? Nahhh ...

1. The Fish

season with seasalt, pepper and five spice powder

Sprinkle organic arrowroot powder over.

I forget why we have to coat the fish with that. 

It's either to : 

(a) keep the fish dry; OR

(b) seal the flavour in; OR

(c) make it crispy

Pan fry the fish in hot oil.
Whooops! A lil too brown. O dear.
Never mind, the sauce will cover it up. :D

2. The Vegetables

onions, carrots, tomatoes, cauliflower, enoki mushroom, green chillies.

3. The Sauce

Sauce Mixture : water, tomato ketchup, brown rice vinegar, 
shoyu, brown sugar and seasalt.

Saute garlic, ginger and onions 

in sesame seed oil until fragrant.

Pour in the sauce mixture.

Add the vegetables and 

rambutan-stuffed-pineapples.

We found a can of rambutan-stuffed-pineapples 

that someone gave us during Chines New Year 

and thought we might as well use that. :D

Add arrowroot powder (mixed with water).

Organic thickening agent.

Simmer for a bit and turn off flame.

Pour the sauce over the fried fish.

This is my plate. :D 

We had the fish with brown rice. The fish was succulent, and the sauce was just right. It took a bit of, put a little bit more of this, and a little bit more of that, but in the end, the combination turned out just right. Sweet and Sour. :D

I had one shake of The Green Drink in the morning, 

fried rice vermicelli for lunch and the above for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

No juice. Fruit. BioFruity. Water. Coffee.

Time of Posting : 3:59pm (Wednesday)

Day 87 ... Garlic-Ginger Rotini Pasta

 GARLIC-GINGER ROTINI PASTA 

WITH CHEESE

This evening, I am going to prepare a pasta dish. 

A quick one. And a very simple one. Bryan is on his way home. Which means, I should just do something I'm comfortable with. No intense frying of fish or meat, blending of several ingredients or mixing of more than two sauces or herbs. Those are Bryan's specialty.

My cooking will have to be kindergarten easy, to avoid any disaster from brewing or exploding. I've just checked my kitchen cabinet and found a packet of rotini pasta which I don't remember buying. Checked the expiry date - 19.10.10. Took that out and that's how I came to the decision to make pasta tonight. :D

 1. Boil the Pasta

in salted water until just tender.

Drain and set aside.

2. Side Salad 

While waiting for the pasta, 

blanch some vegetables in a separate pot 

of boiling water. 

Add carrots, broccoli and baby corn.

Plunge into ice-cold water to retain its crispiness.

Transfer to individual plates. Add red bell peppers. 

Squeeze lemon juice, add a dollop of mayonnaise

and a shake of black pepper. 

A little bit difficult for me to take a photo 
of the blanching and the plunging. :(

 3. Saute the Ingredients

chopped garlic, ginger and cili padi
in olive oil until fragrant.

Add in the pasta. 

Add a handful of finely chopped parsley.

Seasalt and black pepper.

Toss to mix well.

Done! :D

Simple, don't You think?

 This is my ah, healthy plate of pasta. 

I am drizzling a bit of flaxseed oil over. 

Love the nutty smell of flaxseed oil. :D

Bryan and Justine are having their pasta with cheese.  

The plate right on top of the page is Justine's. 

This plate here is Bryan's. :D

I had my one shake of The Green Drink in the morning, 

egg sandwiches for lunch and pasta for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

Juice. Fruit. BioFruity. Water. Coffee.

Time of Posting : 3:12pm (Tuesday)

Day 86 ... Claypot Tofu

CLAYPOT TOFU WITH MINCED CHICKEN 

AND VEGETABLES 

This evening, dinner is for Justine and myself. 

Bryan is still in East Malaysia. An excellent reason not to make a mess in the kitchen. So thought of making a CLAYPOT dish and be done with that. Simple and absolutely mess-free! :D 

Checked the fridge and found some stuff I could put into the claypot. By the way, I had to minced the chicken fillet myself with the large heavy cleaver. Was chop chop chopping away like there was no tomorrow. Imagine the sound of heavy drum beat. Yet, the minced chicken didn't turn out as minced as I intended. 

Never mind, no one's gonna notice. It's just Justine and me! :D

 1. The Ingredients

chicken fillet (minced), onions, garlic, ginger

organic goji seeds and wakame seaweed (sauce bowl)

baby corn, carrots, french beans, tofu, tomato

 2. Saute Ingredients

saute onions, garlic, ginger and minced chicken 

in sesame seed oil in the claypot.

3. The Sauce

mix organic taucu, goji seeds and wakame seaweed with some water.

 Add the tofu, carrots and baby corn.

Pour the sauce over. Close lid.

 Before serving the dish, add the tomatoes and french beans.

Close lid for a few seconds. Or count from 1 to 10. :D

 TA -DAH :D

Simple and a uhh, nutritious meal 

with everything inside one claypot.

 We had the tofu with leftover brown rice

and the garlic-cili padi-shoyu condiment.

I had my one shake The Green Drink in the morning, 

noodles in the afternoon, and the above for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

Juice. No Fruit. BioFruity. Water. Coffee.

Time of Posting : 10:15am (Tuesday)

Day 85 ... Grilled Salmon

This evening, I decided to grill a piece of salmon for dinner.

Bryan's in East Malaysia. So dinner is just for Justine and myself.

I don't intend to fry or use a lot of pots and pans, that's for sure.

 1. Grill The Salmon.

Season with seasalt and black pepper. 

Squeeze some lime juice over. I ran out of lemons. 

Drop a dollop of butter before popping it into the mini-oven.

Close Up.

The aroma was simply amazing. :D

Justine is peeling the potatoes.

2. Boil The Potatoes.

Add seasalt in the boiling water. Drain.

Add mayonaisse, flaxseed oil and 
a dash of black pepper. Toss to mix.

3. Blanch The Vegetables.

You can't get healthier than this. :D

Dinner is ready. This is my plate. 

Oohhh. The salmon fish was just excellent. 

The flesh was amazingly moist, tender and very fresh.

This is Justine's plate. 

She's having a small bowl of leftover brown rice 

from last night's dinner, with her salmon.

Today, I had my one shake of The Green Drink 

for breakfast, noodles with vegetable dumplings for lunch 

and the above grilled salmon for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

Juice. Fruit. BioFruity. Water. Coffee.

Time of Posting : 11:54pm (Sat)

Day 84 ... Pressure Cooker One Pot Meal

 This evening, I am preparing a one pot meal

with the Pressure Cooker. This is a very easy meal to do. Completely free and easy. No hassle.

1. The Ingredients

Chicken, potatoes, carrots, french beans and tomatoes.

Chop the ingredients into bite size.

2. The Brown Rice

Wash the brown rice and add sufficient water.

3. Toss In

Toss in the vegetables. Except for tomatoes.

The french beans too should not have been 

added at this stage, but I kinda forgot. 

 The Condiment

Chop garlic and cili padi.

Add dark and light shoyu, and sesame seed oil.

 Mix well. This chilly hot condiment is ideal if 

You like to pant while having your rice.

 The contents are cooked in about 30 minutes.

Simple, right?

A simple one pot dinner. :D

Completely hassle-free. No frying, so chicken 

and vegetables retain their wholesome flavour.

Today, I had my one shake of The Green Drink in the morning, pan mee for lunch and the above for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

BioFruity. Water. Coffee.

Time of Posting : 1:22am (Sun)

Day 83 ... Pan Fried Wolf-Herring With Biryani Rice

 PAN FRIED WOLF-HERRING (IKAN PARANG) 

with BIRYANI RICE

As You can see, we still have the biryani rice that we bought from Kapitan Curry House in Penang. I had taken out some parang fish to thaw. Bryan pan fried them. Oohhh ... The aroma of fried tumeric that filled the kitchen was simply heavenly. We were doing our deep breathing exercises at this point. :D

 1. Marinate

Marinate the fish with seasalt, pepper 

and organic tumeric powder. 

2. Fry

Heat cooking oil in the frying pan.

Be sure the fish is dry before putting it in the hot oil.

 3. Garnish

We always make it a point to garnish our meals if You notice.

When You can't find anything appropriate, a chilly padi will do.

We are having a simple dinner this evening because we had a heavy lunch this afternoon. I had lamb stew with rice and Bryan had pan mee noodles. Justine had 2 packets of noodles, pan mee and kuey teow. :D 

So, we were still quite full and did not bother with preparing a vegetable dish or soup. Just the yummy fried fish was enough. It went so well with the fluffy biryani rice. Only eating with your fingers can do justice to this biryani fish.

 Close Up

This parang fish is really excellent. And such an exotic name too.  

Wolf-Herring. 

Excuse me (bat the eye-lash a bit), but I had Wolf-Herring for dinner. :D The wolf-fish was fresh and completely tasty. The crispy parts are the best parts, if You ask me. :D

I resumed my shake of The Green Drink this morning. I was quite constipated after my 2 day trip up north. Am back on it. So, am now all clean and green inside. :D

Time of Posting : 3:37pm

Day 82 ... Biryani & Tandoori Takeaway

KAPITAN TAKEAWAY

Tuesday 21/9/2010 ... 

See how nicely your orders are packed for you at Kapitan? We told the waiter to pack the food properly for travel back to Kuala Lumpur. 

Bryan ordered 4 packs of lamb biryani and 2 pieces of tandoori chicken with garlic naan bread. Good thing we have a polystyrene box in the boot, or the whole car would smell ... like forever. :D

Straight from the fridge.

We heated up by steaming.

 Tandoori Chicken with Naan Bread

We grilled the chicken in the mini-oven. 

Oh my, the chicken was just excellent. :D

This is the lamb biryani. 

Take particular notice of the garnishes by Bryan. :D The rice was fluffy and very tasty with the side sauces, mint sauce and the other was like cranberry sweetish sauce. I ate with my fingers. It's the only way to enjoy, correction, REALLY enjoy Indian food.

Am so inspired to cook lamb biryani next. :D

Time of Posting : 11:11 (Thursday)

Day 81 ... Lunch in Penang

 

CHICKEN PIE

Checked out of the hotel at about 10am. Supposed to meet Grace at 11:30pm at Heritage Hotel. Chilled out at Starbucks, New World Park, which is right beside the hotel. 

There was a mini-training (about 10 people) going on with the Starbucks new employees. 

Opening line by the trainer : "Those of You who have not tucked in your shirt, please do so now."

Ahah, and THAT, Ladies & Gentlemen, is the trade secret of Starbucks. Appearance. :D

At Heritage Hotel ...

The Chicken Pie was nice but You cannot eat a lot. What's the point of eating if You can't eat a lot, right? Too creamy and too rich, I thought. A small portion is okay and pastry is kinda nice. That's why I have to convince Dr Sumi for us to try making cream-less pie when I see her for my pie baking session. :D

Hainanese Fried Noodles

I must say, the above noodles were super delicious. Kinda like the birthday noodles that we intend to do next with the assam laksa group of chefs. :D

 Bryan said, "Since we are at a hotel, 

we must experience the ahhhh, JoYS of FiNE DiNiNG ..."

Am still trying to grasp the concept of that sort of joy.

Spring Roll

I was inspecting a family photo of Grace's and interrogating her. Who's the oldest, who's the youngest etc. You can see that she's a bit tickled because I said she looks younger than the rest of her siblings. :D

And so she happily bought me Thai Milk Tea at J Co, Queensbay Mall. My rental-free Penang Office. Took a snap shot of the serviette, can't remember why now.

 

Notice how we are holding our drinks? With the LOGO partially hidden? Now, if this coffee and donut outlet paid us a good commission, we would be holding the drinks with the LOGO nicely exposed. 

Hahhh, something to think about, J CO!!!

Before we left Penang, we went to Kapitan Curry House to order take-away lamb biryani and tandoori chicken with garlic naan bread for dinner with Justine back home. :D You could say, it's almost like a ritual that we never fail to observe whenever we are in Penang. :D

 Time of Posting : 3:30pm (Wed)