.::. Steamed Herbal Chicken .::.

These days, I have fallen in love with steaming. My favorite is steamed herbal chicken with chicken essence. It's so yummy and nutritious, plus obviously healthy! Goes really well with rice!

Generally, marinate chicken and add in some chinese herbs (optional), wolfberries, red dates and pour in a bottle of chicken essence. Steam it for about 30 minutes and you get really yummy and tender chicken!

.::. Q1 in photos .::.

Luckily I uploaded most of the pictures before my phone dropped into the toilet bowl and stopped working!

There was our 2nd and last free stay cation at Intercontinental, 2 nights with Cheer Chen's concert.

We had our meals nearby, Purvis Street. It has one of my favorite hainanese chicken rice and thai food. The hainanese chicken rice is one of the most authentic places left as all of them actually do speak hainanese, with food that tastes my like childhood.

First Thai, I love the kang kong but the standard seems to have dropped.

And of course...bubble baths!


Cheer Chen's concert! I love her, she has the voice of an angel and he got tickets for my birthday - emailed to me when he was overseas on my birthday.

And I try to cook as often as possible, though it's getting challenging these days due to my ridiculous schedule.

I usually jog on Wednesdays by the lake, because tuition starts at 7.30pm. I've time to squeeze in a jog and dinner before teaching.

This was dinner alone at Suntec's soup spoon after gym. The husband was attending a wedding. I love the new concept.

And I dug out my old iPod. The 8-year-old iPod that's still working and was my birthday present.

And this year's the year of weddings.

I think this was CNY dinner at our place.

One of the rare evenings when I'm home and can witness the twilight by the bay window.

The husband took leave and we went dating. Mondays are usually forced leave for me instead of off-in-lieu for those public holidays that fall on Saturday.

I love the Interlace, the unique design and how it's near and integrates into nature. 

My belated birthday celebration on Duxton Hill, and my huge Christmas present at home that I didn't realize.

Birthday celebration with the girls. It's been a good 15 years.

The dog, my ever-loyal companion.

Chinatown and birthday dinner with the neighbors when the husband wasn't around.

My best tom-yum soup attempt.

Celebrating Ju's birthday.

CNY hair.

I'm crazy about black chicken soup these days. *yums!

Cute Chikey, with his BFF Rugby.

One of the rare nights we went back to our old dating places. And he's tired before it's even 10pm!

Home-cooked meals.

Many steamboats gatherings.

Sometime, BBQ.

Bits of pieces of Q1, not in chronological order because I'm lazy but still wish to remember what was 2014 Q1 like.

Q2 might be a potential change in direction, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

To a great Q2! =)

.::, Happy 102nd Monthsary .::.

It was our 102nd month anniversary, and I whipped up a good meal for both of us.



Steak with pan-seared scallops, rosemary garlic roasted potatoes and ceasar salad. Both of us love beef steak and Morton's our favorite. It's too expensive to have it often though, and this was a pretty good substitution.

It's an hour meal. No early preparation needed.

I dropped by NTUC after work. Grabbed the steak and some seasoning/herbs.



Seasoning I used for the steak - it was pretty good! It says 30 minute marinate, I probably let it sit for almost an hour. I suppose meat cuts are a preference, and I had very limited choices at NTUC. I got the rump (about $10 for 2 pieces), and it was good!

Ingredients needed: Steak, marinate, pepper, potatoes, garlic, rosemary herbs, chives, butter, olive oil, scallops, lettuce, ceasar sauce, bacon bits.

Cooking within a limited time frame takes planning, what is done first makes a big difference.

(1) Fill a pot with water and let it boil
(2) Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut it into cubes
(3) The water would have boiled, parboil the potatoes for 6-7 minutes
(4) Season the steak with Lawry's seasoning and pepper after rinsing it and patting it dry. Leave it aside or the fridge.
(5) Strain the potatoes
(6) Chop some garlic while the potatoes drip dry
(7) In a bowl, add some garlic, olive oil, rosemary herbs, pepper and mix it with potatoes
(8) Put it into the oven at 190 degrees, 30 minutes.
(9) Wash the lettuce and spin it dry.
(10) Season salad with caesar sauce and some pepper. Plate the salad and top with with some bacon.
(11) Set the table and bring out the drinks.
(12) Heat up a pan, melt some butter and add some herbs like Chives.
(13) Pat dry the scallops before putting it into the pan
(14) Let it stay each side for about 2 minutes
(15) Plate the scallops and continue to heat the pan
(16) Add some olive oil and put in the steak
(17) After about 2 minutes each side (for medium steak), plate it!
(18) The potatoes should be ready by now!

The husband gave a 8/10 for this meal - I usually get 7, so 8 is supposed to be good. I love cooking, especially for people I love. It's not difficult, no need for fancy restaurants. This whole meal barely cost $30. Cook for someone you love now!

Happy anniversary my dearest. To many more happy months ahead!

.::. Home-cooked .::.

I've been cooking a lot ever since we settled down.  I love cooking, I love delicious wholesome home-cooked food.  I grew up with my grandmother who was a really good cook.  We cooked everything.  We made our own dumplings during dumpling festival, made hainanese kaya in a charcoal pot, made all the new year goodies, gathered for charcoal steamboat. I went with my grandmother to the wet market and temple often, they used to cook huge pots of lamb soup and hainanese cabbage. Those bring back so many childhood memories, yet is very much lacking now.  My mum has never been a great cook, and she's so health-conscious now that food is for nutrition rather for taste. His family prefers eating out and don't have that sort of culture either.

I'm traditional in that way, I think that a woman should know how to cook for her family.  It doesn't matter what job nor qualification you hold. Without a mother who can cook and create that sort of family bonding and memories for the family, the children miss out on so much.  It's not something which restaurant meals nor maid-cooked meals can replace. Either the wife, or the husband got to be able to cook! Some men play such a role in the family these days (which is a great thing), and someone just got to do it for the family.

Did I mention how much I hate eating out for reunion dinners?  I hate it that we've to book a time slot and finish our food within the allocated time.  I hate it when we've to choose from a set menu which is ridiculously overpriced. I hate it that people don't take the effort to cook for the family.  Grandma used to spend the whole week preparing for reunion dinner, from buying the ingredients from the fresh market a week before, marinating and preparing everything. Those are truly reunion dinners, where people put in effort to cook a meal for people they love. These days, nobody wants to put in the effort anymore, and rather pay for overpriced restaurant meals.

It's really a pity that I never get to learn cooking from my grandmothers.



This is my favorite childhood dish.  Hainanese cabbage. I could eat this everyday, a huge plate and still can't get enough of it.  It has a very distinctive taste that only hainanese could achieve.  And even so, grandma's cabbage was still better than those hainanese ones sold outside.  Mum tried cooking it, but the taste simply wasn't there. I tried it a few times, and I think I'm 80-90% there!

I hope that my children can grow up with memories that I had, of delicious home-cooked food and always looking forward to gathering for dinner at home.

Cooking dinner usually takes about 40 minutes these days.  It's possible if you plan ahead or simply cook some simple dishes.  Some days I use the slow cooker for soup, and I usually stir-fry vegetables that do not need much work - some spinach requires you to take off the 'veins' at the stock, or some needs more washing.  Sometimes I steam a dish together with the rice, things like steam egg or fish or minced pork. Pan-fry salmon is our favorite, so is sesame chicken or braised chicken with potatoes and carrots.  There's lots of possibilities, even for a 40-minute meal.

Some weekends, I try more challenging dishes.  The braised duck was quite successful, so was the prawn noodles (but the husband thought that the prawn taste wasn't strong enough).  I think next up might be to try replicate the Italian fish soup we had in Italy!

The husband usually makes Sunday brunch for us, and it's usually good!  I don't even want to step out of the house for over-priced brunch these days! Not to mention the ridiculous weather and crowd that really puts me in a foul mood.

Cook for your loved ones today! =)

.::. The Great Chef .::.

I honestly didn't know that the husband was a good cook till recently.  Let's say it's a well-kept secret and I never expected him to actually cook much for me, except perhaps occasionally.  But it's been happening pretty often, and I wonder if it will last.

Wednesday night I told him that I wasn't feeling well and I'm going straight back to bed.  I didn't even want dinner.

Yet, I woke up at almost 9pm to this.  He cooked steak.  Steak is our common favorite food (he influenced me).  I didn't know to laugh or to cry.  I was sick and really didn't have appetite for steak, it was hard to swallow for a sore throat!  He even made some sauce with cheese and butter and chopped mushrooms.  It wasn't fantastic, but full marks for the effort nevertheless.

I asked him, why did he cook steak for a sick person?  And he said that he thought that it would make me happy.  *aww*  

After being down on Thursday and Friday too, I woke up to porridge after a nap.  Or perhaps I have been sleeping most of the day.

While I was eating, he said sheepishly "I tell you a secret.  I've never cooked porridge before."

Saturday morning, I was fed with cheese sandwiches in bed while I went straight right back to bed.

And then came Sunday, he said he's going to make me a special breakfast.

And I had constant wadsapp progress pictures which I didn't even see till I was awoken to eat.  'Breakfast is almost ready!' he said.

I've no clue how he made this, it had cheese and mushroom inside.  It's a dog-shaped mould.

I can't really recall what happened in between those meals.  The weekend past by in a blur and I was sedated or asleep most of the time.

I've mostly recovered now although cough still persist.  At least my mind is now clear.

I'm so loved.  So thankful.