#onthetable

Ola!

I like taking pictures of my home cooked dishes, simply because i wanted to record down what have already cooked, what i have been cooking everyday for my family and also my cooking experiments on certain dish. Picture will help me recall those precious cooking process or moments even it's just a simple dish like onion omelette :D

Here's what we had for dinner the last few days. Chinese stir fried vegetables is a must on our menu almost everyday!

Garlic & oyster sauce stir-fried brussels sprout, our favorite vegetable lately. It taste so sweet & so crunchy!

 Light stir fried french beans with shrimps, you might already know that i'm a shrimp lover! >_<

Stir-fried iceberg lettuce with fried fish maw.

Spicy napa cabbage kimchi stir-fried with pork slices.

Stir-fried bitter melon with pork slices in black bean sauce, fermented black beans has a pungent flavor and taste very salty ~ so we usually will soak the beans prior to cooking.

  Chinese poached chicken (white cut chicken), a very easy and healthy steamed chicken recipe paired with a savory dipping sauce or ginger scallion oil.

 

Gong bao style squid (stir-fried squid with dried hot red pepper)

Since i have a new bottle of fermented black beans, so i will have to make full use of it in the cooking! Hehe, and this is stir-fried stingray with fermented Black bean sauce!

weekend story

Hihi,

We had a really great raya holiday, my family came visit us last weekend. We were feeling like a tourist, pretty much eating all the time, finding good food, sight-seeing, window shopping & playing with my little nephew. Here are some of the random photos i took with my phone.

Edward - my 1 year 3 months old little nephew, he's such a naughty cutie pie and he grow up so fast!

Mom brought me a lot of homemade & homegrown food.

Old-cucumber for a pot of hearty chinese soup!

 

Shin kee beef noodles @ Petaling street

I think this is the best beef noodle i have ever eaten in town so far!

I love the paper-thin beef slices, it's fresh and raw, then the piping hot broth gets ladled over the top, hits them and cooks them just right! Delicious.

Apam balik aka Malaysian-style pancake that filled with peanuts, sweetcorn, melting butter and caster sugar!

Molten chocolate souffle - a delicious dessert we had in a cafe, next dessert i wanted to try and make!

Things i shop for myself, i should say for my pen-pal too! ^^ There are so many pretty postage stamps, it was so hard to choose!

Dad gave me extra okra (lady's fingers) seeds to grow after he saw the pictures of my okra plants i have sent him last week! hehe~ my okra plant started producing fruits (i should say its a type of vegetable >_<) I will share some of my garden update photo soon.

good things

Hello!

My long awaited moment of the 'bloom' has finally come! The white clitoria ternatea (aka white butterfly pea flower) i grew from seeds last 6 months have finally bloomed this morning! From the info, white clitoria ternatea is a rare species, its quite hard to find in any of the plant nursery here.
Oh! I was so happy when I saw the bloom, it's hard to describe how excited I am!

 Isn't it gorgeous? Pure white butterfly pea flower, can't stop staring at it! Hope it will bloom some more.

Things I've been doing a lot lately, picking, seperating  soaking & boiling red beans!

Made candied red beans for this - Matcha red bean chiffon cake!

My family will come visiting us this weekend, i will make it again for them ~ I'm quite proud of myself by not giving up & keep trying until I succeed on making a great chiffon cake.

My office will be closed starts tomorrow for a week for Hari Raya long holiday! I bought something i think its nice & yummy for my lovely boss who celebrate Hari Raya, hopefully she will love it.

Just finished wrapping up. Simple packaging, hope she likes it!

 Having lots of fun decorating snail mail envelopes, trying many creative ways with different type of craft supplies - washi tapes, labels, paper doilies, maps, stickers, pretty designed promotional flyers, nice postage stamps...etc!

 Bought a lovely book last weekend, its about recipes, cooking stories & faith in daily life from some Japanese chef & gourmet foodies!

i am home again!

We celebrated my nephew's first birthday last weekend back in my hometown! Always feels so good to be back home, it is always fun to get together, lots of laughs and good food.

My 'smiles-all-the-time' super duper adorable little nephew has turned 1 year old last Saturday, we got him his first car! Hehe, the kids ride-on BMW and 2 pairs of cute baby sneakers and socks as he begin to learn to walk now! 

Let me share with you all the love i have got from home.

 Look at this handsome boy on his first-ever bmw, how cool!

I love love love this beautiful photo! (em, please ignore my mom behind trying to hang all our freshly washed laundry)

His smile and facial expression, and also every of his cute gestures just melted my heart.

He's really a little angel, keep the happy spirit floating around our house always!

 I made some of "my signature" (food to be proud of) osmanthus jellies and took home for mom, grandma and my partner's parents. They loved it.

Granny's homegrown jackfruit! There was a big jackfruit tree just outside my granny's house.

I remember when we were just a child, my uncle would ask one of us to climb the tree (not very high) and pick some of those large jackfruits. 

I miss my childhood very much, nothing beats childhood memories.

Jackfruit is very sweet, delicious also rich in fiber & minerals; but its difficult to cut open and to eat it.
Jackfruit is very resinous, and the sticky latex/substance is very hard to remove.
Guess I'm just a glutton for food. I managed to cut, trimmed and removed those sticky fibrous strands and finally retrieve all the yummy fruit pods with my bare hands very patiently. Yohoo!

  We happened to pass by Ipoh (capital city of Perak state) to buy some nice foods home!
How can we miss the best chicken rice in town? (Lou Wong Bean Sprouts Chicken)
A must try chicken rice and the best blanched bean sprouts drizzle with the combination of soy sauce, sesame oil, & shallot oil. oh mama mia!

There are many many old bakeries in old town of Ipoh. We went to an old bakery (not so commercialized, not much reno & decor) for these freshly baked egg tarts with piping hot wobbly custard! Oh~ these are really good!

Kompyang is a biscuit popular in my hometown, its like our comfort food! Its made with lard, onions, salt and flour, some with meats, some sweet & soft inside! Best eaten while still hot, but we usually buy more and reheat them with oven.
 

Mom gave me 2 pineapple crowns, they can be placed directly into the ground and yes! i can actually start growing my own pineapple!

From the info, pineapples don’t really have usable seeds, so pineapple plants start from the pineapple itself, it usually propagate from the crown.

Beside food shots, I love taking pictures of plants too! Here are some veggies & edible plants that my parents are growing.

top left - winter melon
top right - calamansi 
bottom left - curious cat that hovering around daily
bottom right - daun kaduk / wild betel leaf / piper sarmentosum 
*(they are widely used throughout SE Asia as a herb in Asian cooking or eaten raw)

My mom usually used them to make otak-otak (fish custard/ dumplings wrapped in banana leaves), or nyonya perut ikan (fermented fish stomach with herbs & vegetable curry). Original recipe are using fermented fish stomach, but my mom substitute it with small prawns and blood cockles.
I know 'fermented fish stomach' sounds a bit weird or scary for you, but trust me~ they taste really good in this nyonya recipe. ^_^

some really nice souvenirs

I think it was the traveling season last month, brother went on a work trip to Nepal and my partner's family traveled to Taiwan! They bought some really wonderful souvenirs from their trip, too beautiful not to share/post. Haha.

 Mt. Everest postage stamp from Nepal, brother knows me very well.

Followed by notebook made using 'lokta' paper, lokta paper an eco-friendly handmade paper that made from bark of Daphne plant. This Nepalese paper renowned for its durability, resistance to tearing humidity.

He also got me a box of Nepali Masala Chai (Nepali Spiced Tea), the tea leaves are packed in a wooden tea box, now that's eco friendly.

 Yays! Can't wait to make some Nepali Spiced Milk Tea! 

Postcard and keychain - a 'must have' souvenirs.

 

Souvenirs from Taiwan.

Washi tapes, tapes and tapes! They knew I've been doing some craft and letter writing.

The family planned a trip to a lavender farm and got me a very aromatherapy lavender sachet!

I have placed the sachet near my pillow, they said this will help me sleep better. (i don't really have sleeping problems, but the little bag smells really good!)

Last but not least, super adorable souvenirs from Japan.

My lovely boss went to Japan last month end for sakura. End of march to early may is sakura season, the best time to see cherry blossom in Japan.

She got me the cutest stationery ever! She told me that :" When i saw this scissor, i think about you! I think you have told me that you are collecting scissors, so i got you this!" 

Aww... she is such a nice person, sweetest boss i have ever met!

And yes, I am a scissor collector, specially old cast-iron or brass handle or whole brass hand-forged-type of well made utility scissors/tailor scissors. 

Look, how beautiful are these?

 

My collection is growing, i will share with you someday!

Have a happy Tuesday!

back to my hometown

Went back to my hometown last weekend for tomb sweeping day or ching ming jie (just in case some of you might not know, its a traditional chinese festival where people visit the grave sites to remember and to pray to their ancestors). Great opportunity to back home, gather and play with my adorable little nephew! Here are some random shots I really like.

 

There's a beautiful butterfly that visited our garden last saturday morning, we had good mood that day!

Collecting and storing my cotton bolls & seeds! Hopefully i can save enough cotton to make a pillow one day. How cool if i can make a pillow with my homegrown cotton plant, yohoo! Okie, maybe a mini pillow? ^_^

The cutest & sweetest little angel in our house!

Look at that little face, and the little sunflower print top. SO CUTE!

How can you not love him?

Little Edward, my nephew! He's 11 months old now,  and going to turn 1 year old in 3 weeks time! 

Couldn't wait to be back home again to celebrate and capture hundreds of photo with him. 

*Can you see the wooden book shelf at the back, those are all my mom's recipe books! hehe!

Dad walked 'Kimura' & 'Brownie' in the evening, and he asked me if i know that dogs eat grass?

I'm not so sure about it! And dad says yes! dogs does eat grass, but they doesn't eat all type of grass, instead they will pick, the reasons are to improving digestion, treating intestinal worms, or fulfill some other nutritional need. Now i know it!

Kimura is a jack russell terrier, 6 years old. Our first doggy. She's a small but energetic breed!

 Dad bathe our 2nd security guard at home - brownie! She bark at strangers and kept our house safe, specially at night.

Have a great start to the week!

organizing a part of my kitchen - open shelving

Kitchen is my favorite and also one of the most important space at home.

I spend a lot of time in my kitchen, from cooking daily meals, experimenting with a new recipes or just simply sit and think. Lately, i have been busy organizing my new kitchen, to make my cooking life in the kitchen better, easier & fun, also to create more cooking stories and yummy looking food images, hehe! 

My kitchen is not perfect, not huge, but i love it so much~ we're putting so much love & effort into it! I love reading online article or blog post about kitchen sorting and organizing tips, smart display ideas or practical storage solutions for kitchen. I have always believe no matter what size your kitchen are, it can be beautifully neat, fun & colorful yet organized.

Weekend work, made a trip to ikea earlier and got some airtight glass jars with lid, have been frustrated with all the big and small plastic bag packaging of flour, salt, sugar & spices; it's hard and messy to finding the type of flour i want in the plastic!

I remove all the packaging (almost all come in plastic bags T_T) and pour all sorts of flour and different type of sugar in the jars. Then label all the jars with name and expiration date! Believe me, it makes a huge difference before and after, so easy to get flour i need now, the flour not spreading all over on kitchen counter top or on the floor, and also i know which flour is going to expire soon and when to restock! Wohoo! 

I think i need more jars, tee hee hee!