Gräciõ's LäveñderBliss Café: November 2006

Thursday, November 30, 2006

November Conclusion

Canned Stew Pork with Leeks


Minced Chicken with Preserved Cai Xin in Chilli Bean Sauce


Stew Minced Pork with Potatoes


To conclude, these are what I've whipped up in my kitchen during the weekdays of November. Not much, but at least some home-cooked meals for us both. Tired of eating out and spending money so often on food that we've been eating over and over again. :(

Things are great at work, just that it takes time away from me from being in my favourite place-- Kitchen. :( I miss staying at home too, missing those blissful life, not that now it's not blissful, but more responsibilites and commitment.


Staying at home, with no kids, having just a little pet and a husband to take care of, makes life easier and less complicated. Well, humans are just weird. When we stay at home, we miss working life. We're never contented and always in dilemma. :P

I dislike Saturdays, cuz Sunday is the start of the week, having to wake up as early as 545am, reaching home at 630pm. I dread the waking up, it's simply so difficult to pull myself out of our cosy bed, but once I managed to get out of it, everything seems to be easier. :)

Tomorrow's another week ahead. Time flies, I wish I have the power to stop time and make the day pass slower and also, for me to enjoy weekend more. :P


Just a note here: To Evie, Jo, Angie, Edith, Joewelle, Adrian, Fen, Sam, Pong and all my beloved friends:
I miss you all very much! C u all soon ya? :) U know what I mean. *wink*

Evie:
I hope things are very well with u, I'm excited for you as u'll be shifting house soon, and I wanna say that I love you, and I miss both u and the kids very much! I wish I've wings to fly to Indo to meet u. Let's hope during CNY, miracles will happen ya? *Hugz*

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Just A Note...

Heyo everyone!

Pardon me for the lack of posts in this humble blog of mine. Have been real busy for the past week and both my husband and I haven't been sleeping for 2-3 days due to a giant exhibition (both our companies participated in this exhibition) here in Dubai. Hence, I didn't get a chance to cook or bake during last weekends. Weekdays were tiring enough that made me just concuss on the sofa once I'm back home.

I hope to make some good food and bakes this weekend as this exhibition would be over by today.

I'll be back! *wink*

PS: Thank you to YOU who wrote to me asking me how I am, I felt loved by you all. Thanks for being such a constant supporter of my blog too! Here's a BIG BEAR HUGZ to YOU! :)

Saturday, November 11, 2006

For The Night...

I've been aiming to make that dish for a long long time. 4 months has passed in the twink of an eye, and that dish has not been born. I found the recipe on my pal's food blog. We usually get to eat this dish during CNY only, as it's so called a prosperous dish and it brings good luck to us too. Oh well, since I figured out that I would only be back in SG during CNY next year, and can't wait till then to taste this dish, I decided to make it tonight since I had all the ingredients ready in my cupboard.

Thanks Edith, I love this. Thanks for posting this recipe on ur blog. I made a huge pot of this, can u imagine?! And I added tau pok too, really wonderful! :) Here's her
recipe...

Can't wait to eat this for my lunch tomorrow at work. My long awaited and finally borned
Fatt Choy with Braised Mushrooms & Dried Oysters.



Usually, u would see me digging out all the capsicums (or what u may call, "Peppers") out of my food. I don't fancy them at all. Infact I dislike the taste and smell of it. But strangely today, I wanted something yellowy to be added into my dish tonight. Don't we all have our strange moments too? hehe...

Whipped up my Szechuan Vegetable with Yellow Capsicum & Chicken Slices. The taste of the yellow pepper combined so well with the salty vegetable and the bland chicken. Really good, a healthy dish I would say. :)




Ingredients:
2pcs chicken breast meat, sliced thinly

1 yellow capsicum, diced
1 packet szechuan vegetable (wash and cleaned)
2cloves minced garlic

Marinade for Chicken:
a pinch of sugar & peper
1tsp ginger powder
1tsp light soy sauce

1tbsp sesame oil

Way to Go:
1) Heat oil in wok. Add in garlic & saute till fragrant.

2) Pour in chicken slices, fry till half cooked, add in szechuan vege.
3) Add in capsicum & mix well with previous ingredients in pot.
4) Add light soy sauce to taste, serve hot.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

I'm Missing It!


Here I am busy with my chinese dishes again. I miss being busy cooking in my kitchen on weeknights. Gracio's tired of eating out for the evenings during the weekdays. Too much outside food makes Gracio a dull girl. Haha! :P

Yummylicious foods served on the dining table tonight are....

Old Cucumber Soup. Haven't had the chance to boil soup for a long time eversince I started work. Since hubby prefers his foods to be easily consumed, I peeled away the skin of the old cucumber, added some dried squids for flavouring too. Really soothing to our throats, cooling to our bodies. :)



Fresh Tau Kwa were available for us today in the supermarket. I deep fried them 1st then add in minced pork to the dish. This idea came from one of the food blog I frequent. Thanks Ching for the inspiration. :)

Here's my Chilli Bean Sauce Minced Pork with Tau Kwa...

Ingredients:
1pc tau kwa, (deep fry in hot oil, remove & drain, slice thinly & set aside)
300gm minced pork
3tsp chilli bean sauce
1tsp dark soy sauce
2tsp oyster sauce
1tsp chinese hua tiao wine
a pinch of sugar

Marinade for Pork:
1tbsp soy sauce

1/2tsp pepper
a pinch of sugar
1tbsp sesame oil
1tbsp chinese 5-spice powder


Way to Go:
1) Add oil in wok, when hot, pour in pork and fry till almost done.

2) Add in rest of the seasonings, stir till well combined with pork.
3) Pour in previously deep fried tau kwa & mix well. Serve hot with cooked rice.

Cheesy Cheesy!

I miss baking! And yep, I made Cream Cheese Muffins topped with Chocolate Chips this afternoon. Indeed it's really good, I followed the recipe stated in L's blog and made some changes to it. Also, I added cream cheese into the batter so I would have the 'cheesy' feeling which I always loved.


A good marriage between cheese and chocolates. Never go wrong with these 2 ingredients. Yummy! Hubby shared with me and we ate 3 at one go. These cheesy muffins make me keep wanting to eat them all up but I gotta stop b4 none are left for my breakfast tomorrow. *Burp** :P

Friday, November 03, 2006

Are They The Same?

It has been a real busy week for me at work. Glad that EVERYTHING's TURNING OUT VERY WELL!! Yay! :) I must say that I'm missing cooking & baking so much. Hope I won't be lazy tomorrow, really wanna bake something and get my oven working for me. Hehe... :P

Managed to find Green Noodles here. Moreover, fresh ones too! Btw, are green noodles the same as spinach noodles?? The ingredient on the packet never states that it's made with spinach, but with pandan leaves juice. Nevertheless, it still tastes the same as our SG spinach noodles.

I had been missing this dish that I made
a few weeks back. So tonight I whipped up my very own Gai Xi Green Noodles. Since I've left minced chicken in my fridge, I decided to use this instead, something new again. *blink blink* :)



Here's my own version for the braised mushroom sauce:

Ingredients:
8-10 slices chinese preserved mushrooms (soak & sliced thinly in water)
300ml beef stock
3tbsp dark soya sauce
1tsp light soy sauce

A pinch of sugar & pepper
3tsp chinese 5-spice powder
2tbsp cornstarch + 1tbsp water

Way to Go:
1) Add beef stock in a pot to boil, add in mushrooms and simmer for 10mins.
2) Pour in rest of the seasonings and simmer for 1hour.
3) When ready to serve, add in cornstarch mixture & stir till well mixed. Pour gravy on ready to serve noodles with minced or chicken slices.

Bon Appétit!