christmas in singapore

i love, love christmas. the days leading to it. when everyone is sooo busy going in and out of stores. for gifts. for food. it's plain chaos, but you can feel the happiness of people. i think stores have capitalized on this happy mood that sales are more frequent, more tempting as the day nears. sometimes, it feels like christmas has become more of a buy me-feed me-pamper me spree. but i know, there are also a whole lotta people who take advantage of the season's commercialism to bless and appreciate people with gifts.

before christmas day, we made sure we had the chance to drop by orchard road to look at the christmas display. little one was happy. orchard was packed. we were looking for a place to eat after that and happily found botak jones tucked in a kopitiam hawker center. hefty serving, all beef burger. i didn't really see the menu so i can't say if they's better than carl's jr. which is my fave burger place ever. we also had chicken and beef satay. yum.

christmas eve, i prepared hot chocolate drink (just heated milk and melted some baking chocolate in it), butter-fried some ham bought from the cold-storage deli, some edam cheese, bread. it was so simple and i really planned it that way. little one liked the hot choco drink and it's gonna be part of our christmas tradition. hubby and little one tracked Santa through the NORAD website. little one was so happy to see her gift was dropped off by the window. we called our parents back home and christmas eve was complete.

we had friends over for christmas lunch. it was a lot of work, had to wake up at 430am to start brining the chicken but it was oh so worth it. i'm glad our friends shared christmas day with us...

by now, three days hence, my feet arches have finally recovered. my varicose veins have subsided. it was so tiring, but i wouldn't have had it any other way. :)

when life gives you lemons..

i remember a card sent to me by my good friend joyee so, so many years back. it said, "when life gives you lemons, stick 'em in your bra. won't hurt. might help" :D

i've been looking for a recipe which had lemons as main ingredient. lemons are oh-so-plenty here and quite cheap. found a recipe for lemon squares, from eileen goudge's cookbook - 'something warm from the oven'. 

mixed 1/2 cup butter, 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar and 1 cup flour for the crust. put the mixture in a square pan and stuck it in the oven til top was brown (recipe said 350 degrees, 15 mins). 

then, whisked the following for the topping: 3 large eggs (i used 4 small ones), 1.5 cups sugar, 2.5 tsp flour, 6 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tsp lemon zest.

in the oven for 20-25 mins as per recipe.halfway, i had to cover the the top with foil as it was already brown but not yet cooked. and the foil scraped the lovely browned top :) it happens. :)

verdict: soooo tart. soooo sweet. should be eaten in small portions, preferably with coffee. if i'm gonna make it again, maybe i'll adjust the amount of lemon juice and sugar. wonder if i can take away 2 tbsp lemon juice and sub it with equal amount of milk. the crust was good, buttery. but i burned mine. heehee. i'd have to look for another recipe and compare. maybe i'll make this one again cuz i love lemon :)

can't sleep chronicles (part 1)

i have these nights. when my body says 3 hours of sleep is just about all it can take. so instead of lying awake, letting my mind go to all the crazy thoughts i forbid it to go to during daytime, i give up and watch tv in the living room.

jamie at home (TLC). he wraps a couple of ginger cookies in a dishtowel and bangs them on the table, apparently to crush them. then he gives this look that says - 'what? it worked right?' - funny :) he's cool. down to earth cooking. well except for his le creusets.

banged up abroad (national geographic). american missionary gets kidnapped south of the philippines. he suffers horrendously but he manages to escape when one of his captors helps him. captor leads him out of the forest on to a boat with captor's own daughter to accompany the missionary. that is one good story. missionary asks captor why he helped him, captor says 'i believe we are brothers under the same big god' (or something to that effect). god bless him and his family.

very bad men (crime and investigation). guy charms women and manages to milk lots of money from them. watching him talk, he really is charming. i wonder which is worse, breaking hearts (and therefore one's spirit) or stealing.

great weekend getaways (TLC). not really watching this one cuz i'm writing this blog. just listening to it. i like samantha brown. natural. funny. classy with a touch of clumsy. :)

and while i was watching, i just ate leftover chicken and brocolli alfredo. i got this recipe from allrecipes.com under their 30 minute pasta meals. sauce is just bits of chicken, broc, cream of mushroom soup, milk, parmesan and pepper. so easy. it's the parmesan that makes the difference. ooh and a glass of ice cold coke. at 3 am.

pansit

this is the second time i tried cooking pansit or pancit. i never really liked it much although it was a staple of parties back home. i have one fond memory of pansit though. i remember my lola (grandma) bringing some with her whenever she visited us after her afternoon nap. she always carried her basket with her and when she arrived, i'd take out the contents of her basket. i'd be disappointed to find pansit and boiled sweet potato (i was hoping for spaghetti and brownies). but i love my lola and having her visit us made up for the disappointment :)

i cooked pansit because my little one won't eat kimchi fried rice. the ingredients i used were: julienned carrots and cabbage, sliced leftover roasted pork, sliced chorizo, chicken stock, fish sauce and rice vermicelli (bee hoon). usually, my mother would prepare it with lots of soy sauce. but i prefer it light colored thus the fish sauce.

verdict: hubby and little one liked it. i like that little one ate the vegetables. will make again :)

kimchi fried rice

hubby likes fried rice. i've done variations of it through the years to please his hungry tummy. garlic fried rice. with diced carrots. with peas. with chorizo. with fried, flaked chicken meat. with sweetened soy sauce, corn, carrots, and ground chicken meat. with any leftover in the ref (except soup). i never really stuck to a recipe.  

so last night, i decided to make kimchi fried rice. i've never tried preparing it before so i googled it up. found a couple of recipes. but i thought i'd just keep it simple. oil, cooked rice and kimchi! :)

i added salt because the rice tasted a little bland. 

i could have eaten it as it is but i fried up some japanese-style chicken pieces for the hubby.

verdict: i like that it's spicy and the little bites of sweet-sour crunchy fermented lettuce made it interesting. will make again. :)

i heart grocery shopping

i can walk the aisles of a well-stocked supermarket for hours. i love cold storage for the wide variety of goods from around the world. ooh and carre four, for the same reason. i love giant. wide aisles, shelves that go on forever. 


i get a rush in seeing meringue powder, tahini, refried beans, buttermilk, creme fraiche, fennel. i know, weird. but back where i came from, groceries had a 3-basic-needs kind of philosophy. i had been substituting for buttermilk in all the years i've been cooking that i almost cried when i saw it in cold storage. buttermilk marinade for chicken! buttermilk pancakes! goodbye 1 tbsp vinegar plus milk, you were a good friend. 


i also like ntuc, basic but lots of discounted goods. it's my usual grocery of choice because there's one near our place. the fruits and vegetables are fresh; prawns and chicken breast fillet neatly packed; and lots of tofu :). the ntuc hougang branch is a different story though. this one's a walk in the park, literally. two floors of grocery bliss :) 


a well-stocked grocery does level up one's cooking. recipes come to life because ingredients are available. there's just so much to try. in the coming weeks, i plan to do sangria, baked pasta (haven't decided which one yet), lemon squares.. can't wait! :)