Having finally uploaded photos from erm..the beginning of June, I can finally post photos that I'm sure people are dying to see!! *coughs*
First off, let me show you our CAR! ^_^ It's an Audi A4 and err.. has a 3.0 engine and err.. is silver as you can see and.. I can't remember anything else about the car except that it's nice to drive.=X Oops.
The Audi in our apartment's parking area! ^_^
The BUTT.=P Haha.. Ok.. I meant the boot.
The front interior..=) Rather boring don't you think?
Thankfully we have Hippo and Giraffe to keep us company! =P [Along with the radio.. And CDs.. Haha..]
Okay. Enough of the Audi.=P Though it's really quite fun to drive.. I shall move on to food! ^_^
My first time trying to make sweet and sour pork!! =P The happy fried pieces of meat.. Haha.. Look at how they crisp up happily in the air!!!
The completed dish!! ^_^ Haha.. My mom's happy recipe! =P I replaced the vinegar with lime juice because I have no vinegar and also I err couldn't be bothered to refry the pork.=X So the pieces weren't crispy but I thought they tasted fine. Haha..=X
I need to improve though.*frowns* Like not being so lazy in future so I can get restaurant standard sweet and sour pork.
Chinese Hawaiian Ribs!!! ^_^ This was pretty nice.=D And now I know that Shaoxing wine TOTALLY substitutes for sherry. Hahaha.. Somehow ribs never turn out terribly.=) Look everyone! A failproof dish!
Dinner tonight! Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms and Lap Cheong.=D Haha.. Could finally attempt steaming thanks to my purchase of a LID for my wok!! MWAHAHA. =D Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to steam such a large amount of food.. Haha..
Still not as good as the stuff back home.. I have to get the secret from my mother.O__o
Anyway.. Time for the SWEET STUFF! ^_^
Cheesecake! (with a healthy piece of the most delicious honeydew ever.)
From Kroger, we bought M&M Icecream!!! =D =D =D It wasn't all that great.. But it's really cute! Haha..
A Plate assembled with Love for Roy.=P
Honey Almond Cornflakes!!! ^_^ It makes for great snacking.=P
After 1 night of success, 1 night of failure and 1 lunch of laziness, we've hit the jackpot tonight with another night of success. ;)
Definition of success: - Food was pretty good despite this being a first attempt. - Food was cooked quickly and with minimal preparation work. - We could eat dinner long before the sun set [ie: we could eat at 7/8 rather than 8/9]!!!
The first night of success:
Featuring my kawaii donburi bowls that I bought on sale in Urban Outfitters, I present to you OYAKODON! [親子丼]
They were surprisingly easy to make [it would have been even easier if I had the right pan but o well.] and I just followed this youtube video:
It is from a series called "cooking with dog". The voiceover is hilarious! =P The recipe is pretty good and I omitted sake [which would probably give a fragrance.. Maybe I should have used shaoxing wine? Haha..] because I didn't have any. I also made more sauce because I received a request..=P
They were really fast to make although the rice presented us with some problems because erm.. I don't really know how to cook Japanese rice.^_^" There are quite a few steps to it, including soaking and draining.. O well. The rice turned out okay after a few rescue attempts.=P
The easy parts of the meal - Cooking the topping for oyakodon - Cutting up the seaweed, spring onions and onions
The hard parts of the meal - Deboning the damn chicken - Saving the rice
The second night of success:
Another simple meal that I came up with on my way home from class.
Garlic and Cherry Tomato Pasta with stir-fried xiaobaicai and Pan-seared Whitefish from Whole Foods.^_^
The pasta was pretty successful even though it was my first time tossing the pasta directly in the pan with the sauce and the fish was really successful despite this being my first time searing fish and second time working with fish in general.=P
The garlic-butter-味噌-mushroom sauce I made to go with the fish! [That's miso by the way, for those who can't read the Japanese..] It was a totally experimental sauce since I couldn't find a recipe online... I just threw stuff into the pan and hoped that my combination of stuff wouldn't turn out too badly. In the end, it was quite a success I must say! Haha.. The mushrooms overpowered the miso a bit so maybe I won't add mushrooms next time but I have to say.. I think the sauce would go great on pasta. ;)
Garlic Butter Miso Mushroom Sauce
No proportions sorry! I just poured stuff into the pan.. Ingredients Butter Minced Garlic Sliced Mushrooms Shiromiso [I guess akamiso would work too but I have no idea] Mirin Black Pepper Soy Sauce Water
Melt butter and then stir-fry the garlic a little before adding the mushrooms. Stir till the mushrooms are almost cooked before putting in the rest of the ingredients. Add water for desired thickness and simmer till your desired texture. Serve with panseared whitefish. [White fish prepared by sprinkling salt and pepper over the fish and then searing it in a pan with oil and a bit of butter.]
The easy parts of the meal - Defrosting and cutting up the fish - Cooking the pasta
The hard parts of the meal - Making the sauce because I was worried it would turn out badly
Ahh. I hope that we can continue our trend of fast and delicious meals in future. I hate wasting time in the kitchen slowly cooking when I can cook and eat quickly before I go study.-_-"
I wish I had money to buy fish more often!!! ^_^ It's a nice treat though! I love Whole Foods!
cheers *[-witchstone-]*
[music : Dreams High and Mighty Color] [mood : ^_^ success!] [food : garlic-cherry tomato pasta with xiaobaicai and seared whitefish with garlic butter miso mushroom sauce]
^_^ I finished my first exam of this semester today so I'm in a good mood.=D [This does not, in any way, reflect upon what I will get for the exam. That sort of information is totally irrelevant in this context.] I'm baking brownies! Yay!
Anyway, today is another BEAUTIFUL day. A bit windy and cold but nevertheless, beautiful!!! ^_^
I took these pictures on another sunny day that was slightly warmer than today.=P But still, they SORT OF recreate what today is like!!! ^_^ I love spring when it isn't raining.=)
The Clock Tower by the MLB and Hill Auditorium!
The Diag when everyone comes out to enjoy the sun!
An afternoon nap under the shady trees.=)
Beautiful tulips are blooming everywhere right now.=) Along with a whole host of other gorgeous spring flowers!
Besides the gorgeous beauty of Ann Arbor's university campus, here are some shots at the absolutely amazing Lake Michigan beach in Holland, Michigan.=)
The pier, at the end are tons of fishermen and people just walking around and enjoying the scenery.=)
Fishermen out in their boat on the lake in the sunset.=) It's almost 9pm by the way, hence the setting sun.
A wide view of the pier.^_^ The sand at the beach is amazingly soft and smooth by the way.. I definitely should go visit Rachel again and play at the beach! ^_^
I'm afraid I'm not doing the scenery much justice with my terribly amateurish shots.. =X I picked the best ones I had already and I still feel that they don't capture the ... awe-inspiring scenes we saw in real life..
Besides scenery in Michigan, we've been cooking for ourselves and have already had several larger gatherings.=D It's fun to cook for a larger number of people [max 6-8 is the best] but the preparation work is tough too.xP Still, I love cooking and despite all the trials and tribulations, have had a few successes! ^_^ Of course, this couldn't be done without the help of my friends and friendly kitchen co-workers! Hehe.
Steamed Minced Pork on top of Fish Tofu.^_^ The minced pork was leftover from our wanton making. Delicious!
Due to requests, custard puffs made with chouquette dough! ^_^ It's basically the same thing but I like my custard puff to be a bit softer than chouquettes.=P I must learn to make the Beard Papa/Zettai Kareshi versions!!! [ie: The crackly-top Japanese version that is huge and filled with the most gorgeously smooth and rich vanilla bean pastry cream.]
Courtesy of Ted, these are just some of the pineapple tarts we made as a thank-you gift to Rachel's family for letting us invade their home once again.^_^ They were delicious by the way, John Yap's family's recipe is fabulous!!! Now, if only I could remember my own family's recipe.. Ahem ahem.
With all this cooking, I am determined to learn all the Cantonese dishes I can remember [or write down] once I get home! ^_^ Especially how to make soup. *coughs* It'll be useful in winter.;) Of course, I also want to learn to make all the Nonya dishes from daiguma! =D =D =D Ahh!! I LOVE COOKING. And eating of course. But nothing can beat the process of creation when a lump of something can turn into something beautiful that will make somebody happy.^_^
Ahh.. The warmth and richness of the chocolate is drifting over here, the smell leaking out of the oven.^_^ The texture of the brownie batter was rather different today from the usual but.. Let's see how it turns out.=)
Anyway, all this spring weather calls for a new template which I will work on.. erm.. soon! ^_^ When I'm not cooking, doing my work or updating the food blog, I will work on it.;)
I am now covered in a cream that is supposed to kill off the stupid mites that have infested my skin in 8-14 hours. -_-" Never ever get bitten by mites. It's itchy and the treatment is a pain. =( Plus the cream stinks!!!
I went to the University Health Service today to see a doctor. Ahh.. I love going for university AND insurance subsidised treatment!!! The consultation was free and I simply paid a measly sum for my medication. I felt so pleased at my savings.=D
Then Xiaowei [my new roommate! =D], Kevin and I went to have Japanese food for lunch! ^_^ Happiness.. And just now, for the first time in my life, I made fried rice!!! =D It wasn't too bad but has much room for improvement.=) I also made an apple cake.. It was so fast and easy, especially because we threw it into the toaster oven.=)
And now I have socks covering my hands so that I don't further infect anything. I'm going to have to disinfect all my clothes and beddings.. Sigh. That silly XW.-_-" She kept laughing at my sock-ful hands.=(
Ok. Back to my readings about the depressing holocaust.=P
cheers *[-witchstone-]*
[music : --] [mood : grumpy] [food : apple pan cakes!]
Never in my life have I worked so hard at Chinese New Year.. And I have newfound respect for people who prepare hot pots on a daily basis and for those people who wash dishes. My hands have aged ten years and are cracked and dry not only from preparation work for the SSA Chinese New Year dinner, but also from cleaning up. And I think my hands are allergic to quite a few of the dishwashing liquids here.. They always turn red and painful.xP
Ouch.
But! I must say that it was a rather successful event and I'm SO happy that I worked with so many fantastic people!!! ^_^ Thank you everyone for I truly appreciate all of you not minding the fact that I had to instruct you guys to do things and everything.=) And of course, I must thank my Food Committee and the other committee members for helping out!!! ^_^ But most of all, thank you to the ex-EXCO, especially Tianhan.=)
Time for some photos of our hard work!!!
Besides Meijer, Whole Foods, Hua Xing and China Merch, the main event happened here!!! ^_^ Trotter House! We took over the first floor and ground floor for the whole event.=)
Tianhan!!! You are FANTASTIC!!! =D =D =D He singlehandedly skinned the salmon and sliced it thinly with a not very sharp knife for the VERY FIRST TIME!!! I cannot help but applaud him because there is no freaking way I can skin a fish.O__o I can't even stand smelling it.
Our table!!! With festive red plates and bowls [Tianhan's idea..-__-], bakkwa [my life is almost complete] and our very own Yusheng [we made the whole damn thing ourselves.], the table looks most Chinese New Year-ish! ^_^
The YUSHENG!!! I am EXTREMELY proud of everyone's efforts in making it.=D =D =D I really don't know how to express my appreciation for everyone's concerted efforts in helping us in the Food Committee.=)
One of our breaks, where we tossed the yusheng and made all sorts of wishes.=)
We polished off the whole plate - no way we were going to let our effort go to waste!! The fish was amazing even though it was so damn expensive. Whole Foods, I LOVE YOU! ^_^
After we served the yusheng, we served the hotpot. Since we had been so lucky that day [we had to defrost more than 130 bags of food.. oh, and we had to prepare everything ourselves.. and oh let's not forget the fact that we had to lay out everything including the decor..] our stove merrily died! Or rather, someone's table had a dead stove so we switched ours with theirs and ended up with.. no stove.
Hence we turned into slaves and servers making sure everyone had enough soup, napkins, rice, food and drinks. It was tough work I must say, coordinating everything. Good job you guys! And yay to Guo Lu! =D Haha. She was most alert in which table needed what.=) During a break in between the madness and hunger, we took photos!
With the exception of the 2 people in the middle [they are from the Decor/Publicity Committee], my darling Food Committee!!! ^_^ *throws confetti*
One part of our table!!! Except for Xinyi.. Who got to sit with the EXCO.=P She came around to feed us though. =D Hee!
The two on the left are taking a break from all the food.=P
Yet another random photo.=)
We were stuck next to the kitchen the entire night.. Well.. We were either right outside it, or in it.xP
And then we finally got a working stove!!! Much thanks to the kindly seniors who were so worried about us.=)
Our hotpot happiness!!! I ate SO MUCH. The fish/meatballs were SO good.. And so much shrimp and beef!!! And the mushrooms were amazingly good.=) This is 重庆鸳鸯火锅 - or Chongqing Hotpot that has 2 types of soup: 麻辣 [Very spicy] or 清汤 [Clear soup]. =)
xD xD xD While everyone was playing the games after they were done eating, we were stuffing our faces with food. Yum!
After we cleared up the food and scrubbed everything and killed our hands, we had to wait for everyone to leave [after they were done Guitar-Hero-ing and Karaoke-ing] to clean up and tear down the decorations.
I'm drowning my hands in moisturizer as I type but it's not working.(T_T) They are in a sorry state.
Then Guo Lu and I complained about someone taking the nice drink from our table [奶茶or milk tea from 午後の紅茶]... Which I still find a completely unthinkable thing to have happened but anyway.
It was a long long long long long day, a long long long week and a long long long long long preparation for this event. I hope everyone enjoyed it!!! ^_^ I will now have to write an article about it for the SSA website. May the Gods shine down on me with luck..xP
I am looking forward to next year's Reunion Dinner.. Where we can cook it ourselves! Maybe I'll get someone else to do the yusheng...
cheers *[-witchstone-]*
[music : Buddha Bar music] [mood : tired] [food : Peanut Butter Cookies + Bakkwa + PINEAPPLE TARTS!]
kee: Hee. All credit goes to my friend!!
cch: He's based in Lorch but currently he's in Dennison because of flooding in Lorch.
Jiamin: Happy Chinese New Year!!! I hope your whole family has been having a good time!!! =D =D =D I miss hanging out at your house..xP
This will be an image-heavy post. Of that I can assure you.
Before I go into what we did today, I'll happily share how Rachel's GORGEOUS backyard looks like!
First I must show you their new kitty. SO CUTE!!! And Jianxin's maternal side is totally showing can you tell? xD xD xD
Now I will show you her GORGEOUS back yard. Please grab some tissue before you drool and ruin your computer.=D
LOOK. AT. THAT. She not only has that gorgeous water feature, she has a gazebo!!! A GAZEBO!!! And on the left [you can't see it] is a swing! And a CAMPFIRE SPOT!!! Omygosh. I wish land in Singapore weren't so expensive.. I'd totally have a house like this! xD
The pretty gazebo which we would study at if it weren't so damn cold.
The gorgeous water feature with koi swimming around inside. Aren't they cold?
Some of the beautiful flowers Rachel's mom grows in the garden.=) Sweet!
Remember I mentioned a swing? Here it is in all it's glory!
Beams! The swing is really nice to sit on even though I was cold.O__o
Oh to live the high life!
The dune right behind her house.
Lihui discovered this gorgeous windchime hiding in the midst of the foliage.=) Blends in in a very um... mystical way?
The gorgeous watercolour sky...
Okay! Now I can squeal on and on about apple-picking in the rain!!! You know. The weather forecast said we'd have nice weather but no... Michigan's unpredictable weather decides to kick in and kill us! -___-"
The picturesque orchard where we went to pick apples.^_^ Crane Orchards I think it's called. It's located in Fennville, Michigan.
They have dozens of different varieties you can pick but right now is the end of apple season so the only available ones left were: Golden Delicious [beyond gorgeously good], Mutsu [my new favourite apple], 1040 [an as-yet-unnamed apple that's actually a Golden Gala] and Ida Red [a baking apple that we bought for apple crisp!]. You get to sample the apples before deciding which to pick! ^_^ It was pouring but thankfully, Jianxin lent me her umbrella and off we went!
The long stretching lanes separating apple tree patches.=) Gorgeously gloomy.
Overly ripe apples lying on the ground for deer to finish. So sad! All those gorgeous apples!!! *looks sadly upon scene*
A Golden Delicious dripping deliciously from a branch.=)
A picture that would otherwise be perfect if Jianxin had not decided to let the umbrella dip into the way of the lend.
Only I liked this apple a LOT. Everyone else adored the Golden Delicious more. The poor Mutsu. Sad and unloved!
I squealed when I spotted this Gala tree still brimming full of red happy apples!!!
We almost DIED of shock when we paid for the apples we had picked [a ton of Golden Delicious for everyone, some Mutsu for me, and Ida Red to make apple crumble/apple crisp]. 55cents a pound!! OMG! I am SO coming early for apple-picking next year!!! Think of all the applesauce... and apple pies... and apple crumble... and apple gloriousness I could make!!! *_*!
The menu at the eatery that was located just outside the orchard.=) YUM! Check out the menu and the great prices!
All the gloriousness we shared for lunch! Apple cider, apple strudel, apple crisp, apple dumpling, apple doughnuts and apple butter ice cream. Yummm.
The great bakery with loads of apple bread and apple butter and other fruit products!!! Yum!
After leaving the orchard, we headed to Meijer to pick up groceries for our cooking that night.=)
All that we made!!! ^_^ Yummy!!! =D The cooked cucumbers was a total improvisation on my part. *dies of embarrassment*
Well. I have to go sleep now. Squeaks. Goodnight! Hope everyone enjoyed the pictures!
cheers *[-witchstone-]*
[music : Hey There Delilah Plain White Tees/Ts?] [mood : ^_^] [food : APPLES!]
Jiamin: I did!
Joyce: Beams. No sun today but it was fun anyway! Haha.=D And as you can see.. We cooked the Singapore meal tonight.^_^
My Emotible!
starry-eyed: filled with such youthful hope and optimism that one's eyes twinkle even when it's dark
Wish List
ie: motivation to save money!
- clothes
- shoes [heels! boots!]
- the perfect tote
- coats/outerwear! [Soïa & Kyo, Burberry...]
- Gackt - nine*nine
- Gackt Photobooks:
1 The Gift The Sixth Day & Seventh Night Tour Document (2004)
2 Crescent Photobook (out of print)
- Cookbooks!
1 Thomas Keller The French Laundry Cookbook
2 The Nobu Cookbook
3 Emily Luchetti A Passion for Desserts
4 Alice Medrich Pure Dessert
- Anime/Manga
1 Rurouni Kenshin
2 xxxHOLiC
3 Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-
- Proficiency at Japanese!
- Learn French for Food!
