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.

Stir-fried Chinese Eggplant 鱼香茄子

Recipe adapted from omnivorescookbook.

Ingredients

(A) Grilling eggplant
1-2 long eggplant, cut lengthwise
1-2 tbsp of cooking oil

(B) Sauce
A handful of dried shrimps, pre-soaked
1 tsp of fish sauce
1/2 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tsp of fermented soya bean, crushed
1 tsp of cooking oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Instructions

1. Cut eggplant lengthwise.
2. Place eggplant in a large bowl and add water to cover. Add 1 teaspoon salt, mix well. Place a pot lid on top to keep the eggplant under water for 15 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
3. Sprinkle eggplant with cornstarch and mix by hand, until eggplant is evenly coated with with a thin layer of cornstarch.
4. Add 1 tablespoon oil in a nonstick pan and heat over medium high heat until warm. Spread eggplant across without overlapping. Grill the eggplant one side at a time until all the surfaces are charred and the eggplant turns soft, approx 2 mins per side (3 sides in total). Transfer to a plate.
5. Add the 1 tsp of cooking oil, garlic, pre-soaked dried shrimps and fermented soya bean to the pan. Stirfry till fragrant.
6. Add all the eggplant back into the pan. Stir a few times, add fish sauce and oyster sauce. Toss a few more times. Add some water and stirfry for a minute or two till eggplant is evenly coated with the sauce.
7. Serve with rice.

永珍 Yong Zhen Lor Mee & Prawn Mee

Address: Blk 6 Jalan Bukit Merah, #01-40 ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre S150006
Hours 08:00-17:30 (closed on Wednesday & Thursday)

Visited 2 May 2016.

We chanced upon this lor mee stall unexpectedly. We had came to ABC Brickworks Market, not knowing what to eat for lunch... except with me telling hb that Amelia told me there's a lot of good food here. So we just randomly tried stalls. Hb and I both love lor mee, and so we tried out this stall and fell in love with it. I think that week alone, we must have ate it thrice! It is must better then the famous Bukit Purmei lor mee... which is famous only for their crispies, their sauce lacks the punch and the flavour. Yong Zhen's lor mee sauce is just awesome... flavourful and yet not too gooey and starchy.

If you are packing this lor mee home, make sure to request for the sauce to be packed separately from the noodles. I feel that soaking the noodles in the hot sauce, overcooks the noodles and makes it too soft.

You can also request for braised eggs, additional ingredients or noodles.

Hb has tried the prawn mee on a separate occasion. It is pretty decent but not mind-blowing like the prawn mee from Zion Road... it's more like your old-school canteen-style prawn mee. Gives you a nostalgic feel like you are back in Primary School.