Growing Rosemary

16 & 27 Jul 2016 - tried growing rosemary via stem-cutting. Both pots didn't make it.

4 Nov 2016 - tried growing rosemary again. This time put the potting mix into eggshells (I bore a hole at the bottom so the water can drain) and put the shells in egg trays.

10 Feb 2017 - finally got down to potting the eggshell rosemary today. As I removed the eggshells, I was amazed how well established the rooting system was. Each stalk had really nice roots! Out of the 12 I grew, 3 died and I think I planted another stalk in Dec... so I am left with 10 stalks. And they fitted nicely into 2 pots. Really happy with the results. :)

Old Cucumber Soup

Ingredients
250g pork ribs
4 red dates
1 honey date (optional)
8 small dried scallops
1/2 old cucumber (scoop out the seeds and slice)
1ltr water

Directions

1. Blanch pork ribs in a separate pot of water.
2. Bring 1ltr of water to boil. Put in the blanched pork ribs, red dates, honey date, dried scallops and old cucumber.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer the soup for 45-60mins.

Fettuccine Pork Bolognese

Ingredients
Mixed herbs
Salt
Black pepper
Garlic powder
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
Butter
Tomato paste
Water
500g minced pork

Fettuccine

Directions

1. Boil fettuccine enough for 3 pax and put aside.
2. Melt some butter in a pan, saute minced garlic till fragrant.
3. Add in the minced pork and stir-fry till they are slightly browned.
4. Add in the mixed herbs, garlic powder and black pepper.
5. Add in tomato paste and water and let it come to a boil. Let the sauce thicken and switch off the fire.
6. Divide the fettuccine into 3 plates. Pour the pork bolognese sauce over and serve.

Oyster Sauce Baby Bak Choy

Ingredients
1/2 packet of bak choy (4-5 stalks)

(A)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp cooking oil

(B)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1-2 tbsp water

Fried shallots

Directions

1. Steam bak choy for 5 mins.
2. Microwave (A) - 1 tsp oil and 1 clove of minced garlic, at intervals of 1min/30sec/20sec/10sec till golden brown.
3. Mix (B) - 1 tbsp of oyster sauce with 1-2 tbsp of water and add in the golden brown garlic and oil. Pour over the steamed bak choy.
4. Sprinkle fried shallots and serve.

Steamed Rice

Recently I learnt something new from a facebook page I am following - that is to cook white rice via steaming... very convenient if you are cooking just a bowl of rice and you know how it is tough to cook just a tiny weeny bit of rice in a rice cooker.

So I prepped my tupperware steamer. I washed half a cup of rice in a corelle bowl, and put rice:water mixture 1:1. I popped it into the steamer for 20mins and I had a nice hot bowl of rice in just 20mins! And it was cooked purrrrfectly!

There are other ways to do this, like boiling soup in the rice cooker (rice cooker nowadays can do so many things), and then pop the rice in to steam. Or popping it into the thermo cooker with a hot pot of soup underneath. So easy, versatile and convenient.

Honey Baked Wings

Recipe adapted from Noobcook.

Ingredients
12 midwings
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp light soya sauce
2 cloves of minced garlic
Some grated ginger and juice

Directions

1. Marinade the wings with all the ingredients for at least an hour or overnight.
2. Arrange chicken in a tray lined with baking paper. Bake at preheated oven of 180°C for 20mins till golden brown, basting the remaining marinade and turning once halfway (after 10mins).

Comments
Hubby mentioned that the wings were not salty enough... will increase the oyster sauce to 2 tbsp next time.