Day 98 ... Crabby Spaghetti

CRABBY SPAGHETTI :D

This evening, my mother brings over some crabs she bought at the Pasar Malam (Night Market). I am taken aback when I find the crabs still moving about and very much alive in the paper bag. It was all very - geli - seeing the crabs still moving about, probably trying to escape. 

Plenty of squealing and panic response (obviously not from Bryan) as Bryan empties the paper bag contents on to the sink, the crabs dropping out, one by one. This is obviously not a job for the faint-hearted. Seeing those large creepy crawlies in my kitchen sink made me shudder. Physically.

I am noticing a gangster-crab, the largest one, that is facing Bryan fearlessly. Not moving, very still, confronting his attacker bravely despite having both claws tied up very securely. Bryan tries to flip it over several times but it seems to remain quite firmly centered on its balance. A battle of wits pursued between man and crab, as Bryan tried to flip it over and Mr Claw resisting with all its might.

1. Kill The Crabs

Yup, the first step is to grab your weapon and kill the crab. I'm sorry but I doubt if there is a peaceful way of saying this. You tell me. We can't possibly say, our crab is going to heaven, can we? Or our crab is going to be an angel. Holy crab! That would be weird. Put the crab to sleep, maybe? Absurd. I want to be careful here and say the right thing, so I'm gonna ask Bryan.

He says, "Just say, KILL THE CRAB." Oh, okay ...

So anyway, Bryan defeats the crab when he finally manages to flip the crab over. He focuses the tip of the knife right at THAT point, at the center, at the heart of the crab. With determined force, he plunges the sharp knife into the crab and holds the knife in place for several seconds until there is no more movement. My husband, the uhhh, crab murderer.

When the crab stops struggling, he brings the knife right down, cutting through the flap. He mercilessly handles the other 4 crabs, probably shivering in their shells, in the same horrifying way. He cuts the strings loose. Crab legs are still moving in the air. Spasms detected. More shudders.

OMG, THAT one's still alive!!! I almost dropped the camera in my haste to scurry out of the kitchen. It does not help that Bryan says, "It's not gonna chase You..."

A few minutes later, I peer into the kitchen. Bryan is now giving the crabs a refreshing water spa treatment. Scrubbing and exfoliating the crabs clean with a kitchen massage brush and making doubly sure that all impurities are removed and extracted. 

Okay, the coast is clear. It's safe to come back in. I watch in fascination as he pries open the shell. He removes all that is unwanted, the gills and the what-evers that can't be eaten, and chucks them into the trash bin.

2. The Crab Ingredients

Cooking the crabs is fairly easy. 
It is the killing part that is 
traumatically challenging. 
If you can get through that, 
preparing this crab dish is a breeze.

Get a large deep pot. 

Saute garlic, onions, ginger and cili padi (chop finely)

in sesame seed oil.

Add the crabs. 

Add a bunch of mint leaves and spring onions.

Tomatoes (roughly chopped) and carrots (strips).

Seasalt and pepper. Lemon juice. Water.

Close lid and allow the crabs to sauna-cook at low heat. 

Before adding the crabs into the pot, Bryan whacks, hammers and cracks the hard claws with the back of a heavy cleaver. This sure sounds like a violent dish, huh. Don't worry, it's all good ... :D

3. Boil The Pasta

in salted water until al dente. Drain. 

Toss and mix with butter and extra virgin olive oil.

Leave it in the serving dish.

The crabs should be ready in 15 minutes or so. Beat 2 eggs and add that in to get a nicer texture to the gravy. Toss and stir. Transfer the crabs to the serving dish, and place them on top of the pasta. Scoop the remaining contents over. Ooh, the sight and the aroma of the orange-tanned crabs are just amazing! :D

Ta-Dahhh ...

What a fantabulous sight to behold!

This is my plate. :D

My mother could not stop commenting after every mouthful, that, It's delicious, It's very good, It's better than the restaurants, Never seen people serving crabs in this manner, We have to do this every Friday etc. :D

Show us your Claws.

The spaghetti noodles are very tasty and 

coated with so much wonderful flavor.

Half-way through dinner ...

My sister Carol, Hmmm-Mmmm-ing away happily ...

Justine is thoroughly enjoying her dinner tonight,
exclaiming, OMG, It's Yummy!!! during intervals.
The flesh is heavenly, sweet, tender and 

Oh-so-very-Yummy! Slurppp!!!

Oh my, I love the spaghetti noodles ...

Bryan's creation. :D

Today, I had my one shake of The Green Drink, 

pan mee (flour) noodles for lunch and crabs for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

Juice. Fruit. Mooncake. Water. Milk Tea.

Time of Posting : 12:41 pm (Saturday)

Day 97 ... Pan Fried Pomfret With Shoyu

PAN FRIED POMFRET WITH SHOYU 

This evening, I am planning to ask Bryan to fry the angel fish that I had brought out to thaw. Frying fish is a bit too advance for the likes of me, I'm sorry to say. The hot oil splattering and stinging my exposed hands is what puts me off it. Not only that, but the sizzling sound of fish frying in the pan can sometimes be intimidating, have You noticed? I'm not totally convinced that every amateur cook in the kitchen must at least learn how to fry a fish. That is so not basic, for me.

Anyway, the best I can do when frying a fish is to, accidentally, turn it into Scramble Fish or Fish Crumble. Apart from that, believe me when I say that, this is actually a very, very easy dish to prepare, once You get the frying out of the way. Don't let that put You off. Oh, get your husbands to do the frying bit then, and You, You just insist on holding the camera. :D

1. The Fish

Score the Fish. Pat dry with a kitchen tissue.

Sprinkle seasalt and rub in. 

Bryan says, the secret to frying fish is to have 
the pan hot, the oil hot and the fish dry. 

Just observe those 3 commandments, he says. 
Try it and let me know. :D

The fire by the way, should be at medium to low.

Meanwhile, I'm just gonna stick to the things that I can do,

and that is to uhh, prepare a bed of fresh lettuce 
for the fish to rest on.

Would You look at that perfect frying?

2. The Fish Sauce

Saute garlic, onions, ginger and cili padi (chopped finely) 

in sesame seed oil.

Add mixture pre-mixed in a bowl of water : 

shoyu, seasalt, pepper and a light sprinkle of brown sugar.

Bring to boil and say hello to your fish sauce. :D

Pour the sauce over the fish.

Now, inhale deeeeep-ly. Hmmmm ...

3. Sambal Bitter Gourd Dish

Cut the bitter gourd lenghwise and scoop the white insides out. 

Cut into thin slices. Blanch quickly in boiling salted water 

to remove the bitterness. Put aside.

Saute garlic and onions in sesame seed oil.

When fragrant, add the carrots and the bitter gourd.

Keep stir-frying. Add sambal. Stir-fry. 

Add shoyu. Stir-fry. Add water. Stir-fry.

Just keep stir-frying until done.

(That's the last of my sambal from the stuffed sambal fish)

SAMBAL BITTER GOURD

Garnish with red and yellow bell pepper strips. 

Scatter sunflower seeds and black sesame seeds.

Ooohhh ... Yummy for the tummy!

We are having our dinner with brown rice.

The fish is fresh and succulent, 

the sauce amazingly sweet and spicy hot 

at the same time. 

The sambal bitter gourd is just superb.

I'm enjoying my dinner eating with my fingers. :D

I had my shake of The Green Drink this morning, 

fried noodles for lunch and the above for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

Juice. Fruit. BioFruity. Water. Milk Tea

Time of Posting : 9:03am (Friday)

Day 96 ... Spicy Chicken Dish

SPICY CHICKEN DISH

WITH BROWN RICE

I am preparing a simple chicken dish this evening. 

Bryan wants it spicy, so I'm gonna be adding some tom yum paste and chillies in this otherwise non-spicy dish. This is another very easy recipe. Anyone can cook this. Back to kindergarten. :D

1. Stir Fry 

garlic, onions, chillies (roughly chopped) 

and ginger (one large slice) in sesame seed oil.

When fragrant, add the chicken (bite size).

Add potatoes, carrots and mushrooms. 

Add water. Put to boil. Then lower flame to simmer.

Sauce : vegetarian tom yum paste, organic oyster sauce, basil herbs and seasalt.

2. Toss In

When the chicken and potatoes are cooked,

toss in french beans, yellow bell peppers and tomatoes. 

Close lid and count to 10. Quickly. :D

Dish out and serve with brown rice.

A fusion of spicy tom yum and oriental oyster sauce. 

Our family likes to banjir (flood) the rice with gravy 

so I'm making sure we have plenty of gravy. :D

Simply delicious. :D And spicy hot!

Close Up.

Naturally, I ate with my fingers.  :D

How else can I have a finger-lickin' experience? 

3. The Soup

Boil some water in a small pot.

Add 2 ice-cubes of chicken stock, onions, goji seeds, 

carrots and wakame seaweeds.

Add seasalt. Serve piping hot!
A delicious soup that requires hardly 
any effort to prepare. :D

Today, I had my one shake of The Green Drink, 

roast chicken rice for brunch, rice noodles (dry) for lunch 

and the above for dinner. 

To Sum Up

1 shake & 3 meals  

(Oh my, THREE meals again!)

Juice. Fruit. BioFruity. Water.

Time of Posting : 8:13 am (Thursday)

Day 95 ... Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

 SPAGHETTI AGLIO e OLIO

This evening, I am preparing spaghetti aglio e olio. One of our family's favourite pasta and probably the easiest Italian dish to prepare. By the way, aglio e olio means garlic and oil. Yeah, I've checked. Confirmed, it's garlic and oil. :D

 1. The Pasta

Boil the spaghetti pasta in salted water until half-done. 

Drain and set aside.

2. The Ingredients

Saute a handful of garlic, ginger and fresh chillies in olive oil. 

All finely chopped and minced on the chopping board. 

I don't have dried chilly flakes as required by this dish, 

so I'm gonna use the next better thing. Fresh chilly bits.

Add seasalt, pepper, basil herbs and 1/3 mushroom stock (no preservatives) for better flavour.

3. Toss In

When the pan ingredients are releasing a nice aroma, 

toss in shitake mushrooms. 

Then, the pasta. Add some water.

Simmer for just a bit to allow the noodles 

to SOAK UP the wonderful flavour. 

The pasta is ready when the liquid is all soaked up.

Dish out and serve with a side salad.

Ooooh Yummy! 

You could taste every single strand of 

delightfully-flavoured spaghetti noodle.

Justine commented, and I too agree, 

that it wasn't chilly-hot and SPICY enough. 

The cili-padi KiCK is not there, if You know what I mean.

Next time, I will have to use cili padi (bird's eye chilly).

 

Today, I had my one shake of The Green Drink 

in the morning, sanwiches for lunch and pasta for dinner. 

I also had SuPPeR tonight with Bryan when I picked him up 

from the PJ center at 9pm. Char Kuey Teow Tambah Chilly 

(Fried Rice Noodles with extra chilly).

To Sum Up

1 shake & 3 meals (Yikes!)

Juice. Fruit. BioFruity.Water. Milk Tea.

Time of Posting : 8am (Wednesday)

ONE TON TISSUES

Day 94 : Grilled Red Snapper Steak With Sambal

GRILLED RED SNAPPER STEAK 

WITH SAMBAL

This evening, I am preparing dinner for Justine and myself. 

Bryan is away in Penang for 2 days. So, not a time to mess the kitchen. There is some sambal left from that day we made sambal-stuffed fish and just enough soup for 2 small bowls. Decided to just do a simple grilling and add some tofu into the soup.

1.  The Fish

Seasoning : seasalt and pepper.

Top with a generous amount of sambal,

squeeze lemon juice and drizzle garlic/shallot oil on top.

Mini Oven : 180 degrees celcius for 20 minutes.

2. The Soup

The remaining soup from the noodle dinner is standing in the pot. Turn on flame to heat up. Add tofu.

At the same time, steam some leftover brown rice

in a separate pot. 

3. The Salad

Fresh salad : romaine lettuce, carrots and red bell peppers.

Garnish : sunflower seeds and a slice of lemon.

Drizzle flaxseed oil and squeeze lemon juice over.

Dinner is ready when the timer for the oven goes off. 

In 20 minutes. :D  Very simple to do.

Hmmm - mmm ... Yum!

The soup is by now totally concentrated with flavor.

Unbelievably delicious!

I had my one shake of The Green Drink in the morning, noodle soup for lunch and the above for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

Juice. Fruit. BioFruity. Water. Milk Tea.

Time of Posting : 8:15am (Tuesday)

Day 93 ... Noodle Soup WIth Abalone And Prawns

MEE NOODLE SOUP 

WITH ABALONE AND PRAWNS

This evening, Aunty Hayley and Aunty Pauline will be joining us for dinner. We still have plenty of soup and fresh prawns left from the night before, so we only have to get some more noodles. This time, we bought yellow mee noodles apart from kuey teow.

Here's Mama and Aunty Hayley

Aunty Pauline

They bring some mooncakes over.

We are opening up a can of abalone that Aunty Iris gave us. 

Bryan blanches and cut them into thin slices.

This is my bowl. 

The soup today is unbelievable. :D

Bryan's bowl. 

He says the soup is a bit different 

because of the abalone juice. 

The taste is simply exquisite!

My second bowl. :D

Once again, we are having 2 bowls, 

except for Hayley and myself. We are, uh, having 3! 

In our defence, I believe our bowls 

are a bit smaller than the rest. :D

Look at those piercing green emerald eyes. O.O

Relaxing after dinner. 

So Kish is starting on her diet today. 

She is having lean meat with the fats all trimmed off.

She's gonna be all curvy and slim soon.

Dinner tonight is just great. 

I don't normally take yellow mee, 

but hey, the one tonight is pretty fantastic!

Time of Posting : 4:47pm (Monday)