Gräciõ's LäveñderBliss Café: July 2006

Monday, July 31, 2006

SzeChuan Style Chicken


Made this a long way back. Forgot to post this on my blog.

Got this recipe from a member in KC who got it from the website. The original recipe is supposed to be served cold, but hubby prefers it to be hot; thus I modified this to make it a stir fry dish & also to suit our "hot" dish preference.


Ingredients:
3pcs chicken breasts meat, sliced
1 slice of ginger
1 section of green onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk of cilantro, sliced finely
1 tsp ginger powder
1tbsp green onion, minced

Marinade for Chicken: (1hr)
1/2 tsp ginger juice
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
1/2 tsp salt
a pinch pepper


Seasonings:
1 1/2 tsp chinkiang black vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp spicy bean paste (dou ban jiang)
1/2 tbsp light soya sauce
1/2 tbsp sesame oil


Directions:
1) Mix the minced garlic, minced green onion , sliced cilantro and ginger powder with the seasoning in a bowl to make the sichuan sauce.
2) Heat 2 tsp oil in a wok, add in ginger slice & green onion to fry till fragrant.
3) Add marinated chicken to stir fry for 3 mins.
4) Turn off heat, dish out & pour seasonings over the chicken. Mix well & serve hot. Enjoy!

I must say that I love this dish. It's definitely a must try. Thumbs up!

U can get spicy bean paste @ all supermarket. I use Lee Kum Kee brand.
I bought my chinkiang black vinegar from wet market.

Ku Chye with Minced Pork & Egg


Ingredients:
200gm minced pork

300gm ku chye (Chives)
2eggs, lightly beaten
1 clove garlic, minced finely

2tsp olive oil
a drizzle of hua diao wine

Marinade for Pork (1hr):
2tsp dark soy sauce
1tsp sesame oil
1tsp cornflour
a pinch of sugar, pepper & chilli powder

Sauce Mixture:
1tbsp oyster sauce
1tbsp water

a pinch of sugar

Directions:
1) Heat 1tsp oil, fry egg, minced them finely with spatula, dish out & set aside.
2) Heat oil in wok, add in garlic 2 fry till slightly browned.
3) Add in marinated pork, fry for 2 mins.

4) Stir in ku chye, hua diao wine & let it sit for a min or so.
5) Return egg to wok & pour in sauce mixture. Make sure all is well coated, simmer till all is well done.

Bon Appetit!

Sunday, July 30, 2006

The Day Ends With Love...

Oops, I hope u all are not bored by the last 2 posts about my birthday treats. Just wanna share what we had for the past days. =)

Alrighty, I promise this will be the last time. :)

Before I begin anything, I wanna sincerely thank Jo, Edith, Giselle, Angie, Evan, Rachel, Fen, Ah Pong, Kuan, Sam & those whose names are not mentioned here, for sending me their birthday greetings. This year, I have the most number of people who send me their well wishes over sms/overseas call/online messages. Thank U so much, I'm very touched by all of u. =)
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We went to Dome for dinner. Service was okie, cannot ask for too much here. We had Risotto & Deep Fried Chicken Chop. Their risotto has always been good & so is their cheese cake, but after having the chicken chop, my stomach told me it's time to rest. dhuz... :(

When the plate of chicken chop was served, it didn't look good to me, but when tasted, Boy, were they good! =) Now I have one more on my list to order whenever I visit Dome. :)


Chicken & Mushroom Risotto


Deep Fried Chicken Chop with Potato Ball


I saw Edith's melon tong shui & was tempted to make. I used melon strips (tong dong gua) instead & added longans too. The taste is great! I call this "Blissful Tong Shui".



Hubby bought me Dunkin Donuts (they're my favourites) as my birthday cake. Unique & yummy!


Thank U Hubby for making this day special & possible. :)

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Saturday, July 29, 2006

A Contented Birthday Gal


Clockwise:
Hua Diao Wine, Liang Fen (We call it "Chin Chow"), Wang Wang Xue Bing (Snow Biscuits), Black Sesame Paste, Shanghai Nian Gao (We call it "Fujian Rice Cake"), Cai Xin, Pong Dai Hai (Sterculia Seeds), SzeChuan Vegetables, Chan Pui Mui (Preserved Orange Peel) & Dan Huang Bing (Egg Cake)


Finally, Karen & I went to China Shoe City. So excited when we made appointment to go there together, it has been a super duper long time eversince I went there. Even 4got the route there, until today, when Karen drove, I realised that waaa, so near my home lei. haha! Yay! So u must have guessed how joyful I was when we reached. *wink*

China Shoe City is a place whereby the chinese from China sells all the imported stuffs to wholesale here. They, of course sell shoes, vegetables, titbits, bags etc... 40% of the chinese foodstuffs we use in SG can be found here too. I'm so glad that Dubai gave them a chance to import and set up wholesale market here. =)

Most of the foodies I buy are in 2s or 3s, so took them out as not to duplicate them... ;)

After that, we went to Brands for Less, a wonderful place that sells crockeries, kitchenwares, cutleries, clothes(more of this), at a more reasonable price. Many flock there whenever the new stocks arrive at noon & 7pm. I bought a white satin tablecloth, a set of 4 placemats & a set of 2 grog glasses that comes with 2 stirring sticks. Im so contented today!!!! Didn't get to shop so happily for a period of time, after getting married I felt me love to shop more for homewares & groceries than clothes! Anyone feel that way too? :P



Strangely, don't know why, but Im not as excited as last year that the next day (30 Jul, according to Dubai's timing) is going to be my birthday. Weird... guess it's gonna be a day that I'm gonna spend alone as hubby's off to work tomorrow. Hopefully he would be able to take leave on Mon to spend our 2nd year wedding anniversary together. :) But I'm glad that the things I bought, he sponsored all of them for me.


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Friday, July 28, 2006

Birthday Treats Come Earlier This Year

Dubai's hit by sandstorm today. Everywhere we went was blur & driving was alittle tough. Thank God it's friday, our weekend here, not as many cars on the streets as compared 2 the usual weekdays. Phew!



Hubby was extremely nice to me, not that he's bad to me on other days lah... We went for breakfast @ Caribou Café followed by a great movie "Pirates of The Carribean", then a sumptous Korean lunch @ Shogun.

Tho' not as exciting, but glad that efforts are made to make sure at least I've had happy birthday treats.

Mmm, I must say that I'm not a high maintenance person, a small treat or a little card does makes me delighted, no need to eat at a luxurious place or spend so much just to make me feel on cloud 9. I'm blessed with a good husband, in a blissful marriage, surrounded by great family members & friends around me. Contented & pleased with what I have, that's all I can say. =)

Sharing with u what we had for today... ;)


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Early in the morning @ 10.30am...

Breakfast

Hubby's Almond Croissant with Medium Cappucino


Mine was a Cheese Croissant with Small Latte


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Late in the afternoon @ 2pm...

Lunch


Korean Sides/Appetizers


Beef Bibimbap


Kimchi Stew


A napkin prepared 4 u, just in case u drool! hehe... :P



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Went Easy Yesterday

Sometimes canned food does wonders. A girl friend of mine went to China Shoe City last week and got me salted egg & black bean canned fish. I was happy to find out that they do sell this canned fish which I missed so much. When I was in sg, my mom, who doesn't know how to cook, would always make me eat this with porridge over the weekend. Thus, after eating this frequently, I start to love it, but must confess that it's alittle too oily, better to drain away the oil b4 steaming it.



Black Bean Fish


Salted Egg


As I know hubby doesn't like the aboves, I specially fry Ku Chye (Chives) with minced pork & egg for him. It was my 1st time frying this chives, manage to find this at the thai market nearby. So happy that he likes it! I like teochew "ku chye kueh", miss eating that dipping with sweet sauce. Ahhr... think now I can make my own since now I found the main ingredient.

Ku Chye with Minced Pork & Egg in Oyster Sauce


I'm so glad that yesterday dinner turned out pretty good though simple.

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Tuesday, July 25, 2006

可不可以不勇敢 By 范玮琪

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可不可以不勇敢


你用浓浓的鼻音
说一点也没事
反正又美又痛
才是爱的本质

一个人旅行
也许更有意思
和他真正结束
才能重新开始


几年贴心的日子
换分手两个字
你却严格只准自己哭一下子
看着你努力
想微笑的样子
我的心像大雨将至
那么潮湿

我们可不可以不勇敢
当伤太重心太酸无力承担
就算现在女人很流行释然
好像什么困境都知道该怎么办

我们可不可以不勇敢
当爱太累梦太乱没有答案
难道不能坦白的放声哭喊
要从心底拿走一个人很痛很难

Monday, July 24, 2006

Currycraze days

Great! My a year & a half rice cooker died-ded on me just after the rice was cooked. Haiz, think for the next few days, we're going to eat anything except rice. Now I'm looking forward to saving my own pocket $ to get a brand new rice cooker.

Just as I'm typing out my thoughts here, I realised that our meals these few days consists of curries. Not long ago I just did a Thai Chicken Curry, yesterday we had Pepper Chicken Curry, & today Prawn Curry. Haha! How amazing that we have had so many curries dishes within a week or so. ;)

Saw Jo's tangy prawns on her blog & was tempted to whip up that. Just as I thought, it was excellent! Hubby & I ate it with coconut rice & the remaining gravy was used as a dipping sauce for our "baton" bread.


Tangy Prawns In Red River Curry


Served with Coconut Rice & "Baton" Bread


Since we had quite an unhealthy main course, I decided to make Vege Pot with Minced Meat & Egg to balance the whole meal. Haha! :P


I tried making Gattina's "Balloon" Chocolate Cups, passed at the 1st stage but failed when transferring them to my fridge to chill, everything collapsed. *Sobsob* And to make things worse, I've got a small fridge. :(
So as not to waste the chocolate, I still made a
Peach with Choco Flakes dessert instead of a "Balloon" cup. Im pleased with myself. hehe...

因为你 By 萧亚轩

因为你

睡梦里梦见你

看见我俩走在一起
在我心里问着自己
为何总是每个梦里有你

只有你让我管不住自己
希望你看出我一番心意
这一切都是因为你因为你

因为面对着你我才笑得甜蜜
爱像海水倒灌疯狂不息
想马上抱紧着你
把手放在你手心
快点问我在等待的问题

因为身旁的你
彻底占有我的心
爱像自投罗网般不能自己
不后悔疯狂爱你
不顾一切只为你
因为我早已准备好说我愿意

为何你那么ㄍ一ㄥ
明明想爱却又装做毫不在意
而我自己故做神秘
嘴上不说心里却等不及

想和你去海边看星星
想贴近你别担心
我不会拒绝你
因为我想和你在一起

**不顾一切不后悔疯狂爱你爱你*

(Rap: eh-elva tell me is it just infatuation
cuz my heart beats fast in syncoption
caught in the middle of situation
can'tget a grip on my destination my reputation
and past relations don't mean a thing when
it comes to passion
but we're too shy to try
what's right can't make the first move
even though i try)

黑白配 By 范瑋琪

Another outstanding song by Fan Wei Qi, she wrote this song for her boyfriend, Hei Ren, a Taiwanese professional basketballer who was forced to quit due to his injuries. He's nicknamed "Hei Ren" cuz he's very tanned & thus, the name of this song.. =)

黑白配

太阳晒的我眼睛睁不开
你的好脾气
让我心情坏不起来
下雨下的我
眼神发呆
你的道歉
听着听着我都快要笑出来

谁说不能黑白配
世界上没有什么事能够如此的绝对
曾经有人这样唱过白天它不懂夜的黑
你却懂得我的美

有时候我会感觉非常累
有时候也会不知觉把你拖累
你有时会说我们不配
只要能依偎
真的真的我什么都无所谓

谁说不能黑白配

世界上没有什么事
能够如此的绝对
曾经有人这样唱过
白天它不懂夜的黑
你却懂得我的美

钢琴也是黑白键
一样能看出我对你只有满满的感谢
也许黑永远不明白
在这个彩色的世界
有你我才会存在


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Peppery Dinner

We ordered from Aappa Kadai(AK) yesterday again, hubby suppose to be out for a client dinner session but it was cancelled suddenly. I wasn't prepared to cook & was craving for AK's curry for quite sometime already... Finally took pics of their Pepper Chicken Curry & Szechuan Chicken Noodles. Here they are... Looks yummy ya? It's an indian restaurant yet their chinese food is superb!

Pepper Chicken Curry (It's awfully spicy till our stomach feels warm too!)


Szechuan Chicken Noodles


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Sunday, July 23, 2006

Flowery Chrysthemum Tea

It has been horribly warm in Dubai, temperature's about 45degrees today. I went out in the late morning to run some errands and felt my skin was burning once I step out into the scorching heat. Quickly, I dash across the road, ran into the supermarket & phew!, was it cooling!

After that, I went straight home, even the house was filled with super warm air. Immediately, I made my aircon worked for more than half a day. Boy! Even the water from the tap is like 100 deg, now both my hands are dry, always "craving" for moisturiser. :P It's awfully warm down here in this desert area! As compared to last year, this is terribly hot & humid! Gosh! I'm glad that someone invented something called air con, if not, I wouldn't be able to survive here.

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My facial lady make this cooling drink all the time. She says it's good for complextion too. Wow! So I decided to make this to cool our bodies down, incase we "kana" heat stroke. Hehe... Care for this, anyone? =P

Chrysthemum Flowers with Wolfberries Tea

What I Cooked & Failed

Yesterday was a day of lazing at home again as friday we went out for almost half a day. Sadly to say, my left eye was down with bad infection due to contact lenses. Boy, for 2 days everything that I see was tiny. Now, I'm glad the eye is better yet I don't think I will be wearing lenses these few days, gotta preserve my eye in good condition as my birthday is approaching next week!! Yay!! Time to eat korean food at Shogun!! Im so glad! =) But oh well, can't spend too much as the following day is our wedding anniversary. 2 celebrations in a straight 2 days, ain't that exciting? Im really looking forward to it. =)

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Oke, back to yesterday. Whipped up quite afew dishes for dinner. One of them was "Chawanmushi". I made them afew months ago and sort of failed 'cuz it rises up so high n it wasn't silky. Made them again yesterday & sadly to say I failed!! Maybe becuz I'm too proud to take disappointments that's why me felt sad for a few moments. The main problem that I realised was I didn't add chicken stock or water in it & that causes the whole steamed egg to be hard as a rock. Hubby was laughing when he ate that. :(

The egg looked quite alright at 1st, I was jumping with joy, then it went rises so high n became hard when I tasted it. Damn! was I mad & sad! =( Nevertheless, I'm gonna try it again, practice makes perfect.

Crabmeat Chawanmushi


Sambal Kangkung is something that I always love to eat at "zi char" stall. This goes very well with sambal sotong & stingray.

KangKung Sambal


Jo, a dear friend of mine, gave me a part of the rice wine she made b4 I left for Dubai. Boy, were they GOOD! Thanks Jo! And I use them to steam with chicken & scallions. Hubby & I enjoyed eating this dish, esp me, I just love the wine smell & taste.

Steam Chicken In Rice Wine & Scallions

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Looks Good, Taste GREAT!



Aunty, "Mee Pok Da Gei Hiam Jio Ji Puah!" (in Hokkien) In english, it means, "Aunty, 1 plate of dry fishball noodles with extra chilli, pls!"

Waa, this is what I miss about Singapore(SG) life at any coffee shop ordering food. And today, I have it here, not my favourite but at least a taste of SG fishball noodles in Dubai.

Does the mee pok pic above looks like homemade? It's kinda yummy, filled with bean sprouts, fishcakes, fishballs, mee pok & most importantly, chilli paste & abit of black vinegar. Mmm.... guess I can do this very often whenever Im lazy. Looks really finger-licking good heh?! :P

Haha! Caught u! It's not homemade! It's another product by DoDo Singapore!!



I'm filled with amazement after the 2 previous DoDo instant treats that I tried failed on me. Today, I decided to give another shot, hoping it will pass. And indeed, it passed exceedingly, abundantly with great & yummy results! Now I'm thinking, when will DoDo's Mee Siam instant treats be coming over? Don't know why, but these days, meesiam has always been on my mind...

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Economic Bee Hoon

Was craving for this dish eversince I came here. In Singapore, we can get this so easily, especially during breakfast time. I like this to go with lots of cabbage, fried fish fillet & sambal. Hubby likes it with luncheon meat & egg. Weird, I don't understand why he doesn't like it with sambal. *thinking mode*

Happen to see this recipe in KC and tried it out afew months ago. And it truly brings lots of applause from people who have tried it. Hopefully I would not be lazy & try to do this dish again as it takes time for soaking in marinated water & frying bee hoon really takes skills. :)

Filled with lots of ingredients as its for our dinner... =)


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