homecooked lunch on 18 december

dinner on the previous day was a disaster. perhaps they had tried to make something too difficult for them at this stage in time. only the broccoli with butter and salt tasted fine, the xiao long baos tasted like dough and the meat hadn't been seasoned enough.

but, she managed to rebound the very next day. got up earlier than him and cooked minced meat beans, sugar-coated yam and corn soup with minced meat.

corn soup with minced meat, and dissolved yam. tasted good enough.


sugar coated yam chunks. too thick, some were not cooked enough to bring out the sweetness, and he felt that too much sugar was used. those that were done well had a good aroma once you bit into them.


the best dish - minced meat with beans. she chopped garlic and chilli to suit his taste, how sweet. beans were still crunchy and complemented the slightly salty meat well.

sweet vinegar pork, butterfried salmon and toast

got a blocked nose and had bodyaches last night, enough reason to sleep in today. when he got up at noon, she had already made 2 slices of heart-shaped toast.

after washing himself up, he washed the salmon, patted it dry and prepared for slicing. at the same time, she washed a cup of rice and put it into the electric cooker. she then left the still-in-package-pork to defrost in a bowl of water, chopped up some ginger, pineapple slices and prepared her "batterinate" (mixture of batter and marinate). this "batterinate" was needed to make the sweet vinegar pork, and the components are vinegar, flour, kushiyaki sauce, spring onions, salt, soy sauce and rice wine.

salmon was treated to a splash of olive oil, then dusted with some salt and garlic powder. seeing that there was still more flour, he added some of it into the mixture. finally, he melted a smaller-than-yesterday chunk of butter in the heated skillet and started cooking the salmon slices.

butterfried garlic salmon - set on paper kitchen towel to remove excess oil before serving.


salmon with the heart-shaped toast - sweet gesture, even the discarded sides of the toast tasted so good on their own. in any case, he ate the heart heavily buttered.


last but not least, the star dish of the meal, sweet vinegar pork. to do this, she fried the battered pork before removing from heat. next, she cooked the pineapple before putting in the pork again to soak up the flavour. yummy? you bet.


totally forgot about the lettuce. used some of the nicer ones as wraps for the fish and meat, while the larger leaves were chopped up and eaten as salad. forgot to take a picture of this, and he bets you know the reason why...

sweet and sour pork, pan-fried codfish, butter vegetable soup

went grocery shopping after work again. wife only wanted to buy 1 piece of cod steak. but while shopping, he grabbed salmon steak, a bag of large yellow onions and 2 chunks of butter

when he got home with the loot, she had already marinated the pork, prepared the batter, mixed the sweet and sour sauce, and was already starting to chop up the vegetables.

menu for the evening, sweet and sour pork, pan-fry codfish and vegetable soup.

as always, they splitted into 2 groups. while she made final touches to the pork, he chopped some ginger and onions. washed the codfish and dried it on some kitchen towels before proceeding to dust it with salt, pepper, ginger and some soy sauce. he had wanted to make an oriental version, but she wanted a more westernized one. not much of a choice, compromises have to be made in a marriage. he heated up the skillet, melted a chunk-too-big of butter, and threw in some onions to be browned. some miscalculations here, the codfish steak was too big for the pan! halved it with the knife and snipped the stubborn skin with kitchen scissors before putting them into the pan, one at a time, cooking each side for a few minutes.

chapalang fusion codfish. wife smirked at the presentation of the dish, while his youngest brother commented that it had a unique flavor, which he appreciated. overall, they all seem to like how it tasted.


while the panfrying of the codfish was going on, wife was also frying the batter-dipped pork. she made a mistake by throwing all the pork into the wok instead of frying them in batches. so they ended up being oily and moist stir-fried pork, not crispy at all. once she deemed it done, she removed them from heat and threw in the sweet and sour sauce for heating. next, she added a mixture of riceflour and water to give the sauce a stickier consistency. gave it a good stir before adding red and green capsicums, pineapples, tomatoes and the pork.

here is the picture of the sweet and sour pork. apparently it turned out well, he felt it was very yummy for the first dish she officially cooked on her own. nice color, great taste!


he still had another dish left to do, soup!

raw chopped vegetables posing for a picture before going for their butter spa treatment. onion, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes. she opened a can of cream corn for the soup base, but he was skeptical if it would work as well as fresh corn.


luckily this turned out well too. it seemed to have a more appetising aroma with butter added to the soup. soup was sweet, though he's still sure it would have been better with fresh corn.


what a hectic day again. and she seemed to be all hyped up for more cooking. finally, something she's really motivated to do. cooking together is fun, at least for now.

taking the day off tomorrow, and he can't wait to slice the salmon like a pseudo-sushi chef. perhaps teriyaki salmon and breaded salmon tomorrow? hmm...

dinner of curry chicken and pan-fried salmon

he met wife for groceries shopping, who had the intention of making sweet and sour pork, curry chicken and pan-fried salmon. however, they decided to save the frozen pork for tomorrow night.

bought frozen pork, chilled chicken breast, chilled salmon fillet, a can of corn, a can of green peas, curry paste, coconut milk, baguette, caramel-coated popcorn, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots...

washed the salmon and sliced it like he watched on streaming videos, angled knifework. sprinkled olive oil, some salt, white wine and some cumin seeds to marinate the salmon slices. meanwhile, she sat by the side and ate chicken wings. grr.

next up was the chicken breast, smashed it up with the back of the knife before slicing them into small chunks. for this, only olive oil and salt were used for marination. this time, she finally got up to do some work, heated oil in the skillet to pan-fry the salmon slices. while she was at it, he peeled and chopped the carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and chilli padi.

things moved fast enough and she started oiling the heated wok in an attempt to fry the chicken golden brown. she, however, forgot the all important garlic. this was realised only after she starting putting the chopped vegetables in with the chicken. he immediately crushed some washed garlic and threw them in. water was then added to the wok and brought to a boil before throwing in the curry paste and coconut milk. mixed them well and left on medium heat. turned down the flame after the curry started boiling again. left on for another 10 minutes or so before turning off the flame.

and here comes the long awaited output

panfried salmon - meat within still tasted smooth and juicy (oily), fell apart easily in the mouth. mm.... but perhaps too much cumin seeds, the spice was a bit too overpowering for him.


chicken curry - as usual, the small cuts of vegetables cooked fast enough to become soft. curry was however not spicy enough, which couldn't have been the case since wife wasn't able to take food that are too spicy. chicken didn't have much time to soak up the curry, maybe it should have been chopped into smaller chunks.

home cooked dinner 141209

rushed home after work to get some groceries from ntuc.

beef $2+
raddish $1.35
enoki mushrooms $1+
buna shimeiji mushrooms (brown headed) $1+
aged ginger $0.69
french beans $1+
rice flour $1+

with frozen pork ribs left over in the freezer from the weekends, they decided to split into 2 teams and make 2 dishes. she took charge of french beans with beef again. this time, she marinated the beef with soy sauce, ginger, some flour and vegetable oil. while she was massaging the beef, he quickly rinsed the french beans and the mushrooms, boiled water to drench the pork ribs to remove some oil. after which, she processed the french beans by peeling both ends and breaking them into 2 or 3 pieces. again, she needed him to pour oil into the heated wok, and she unknowingly gave him a wet spatula, which made the oil spatter onto his hand. what a vicious trap.

she quickly stir fried the beef over a medium flame, then removed it to fry the beans, before allowing the beef to join in again. this time round, the beef seemed juicier, and the starch gave it a slick texture. just realised that the beef got missed out in the picture. blame hunger for it, he reached home only around 8pm.

now for his performance, in charge of soup again. raddish pork ribs soup. he always likes to use natural vegetable flavours to make his soup (not that he really knows how to). brought the pot to a boil and thew in the crushed garlic, ginger, raddish and the half-blanched pork ribs. left it on medium heat and waited till the items in the pot were dancing with bubbles before it was time to throw in the mushrooms. well, no particular reason why that was done, just testing it out, hahahaha. he then turned down the flame for a slow boil, and gasak-ed the readiness of the soup using the hunger limit. well, uncool presentation, but it turned out palatable. raddish were chopped into smaller pieces so that they would cook faster. yum. noticed? no oil.

first overwhelming messy scoop for the hungry


the 2nd bowl of soup which looked slightly neater


hope you've had a good read, it had been a really tiring day.

dining at the mussel guys 121209

after a tiring day at sentosa, they trudged around vivo city looking for food. just the other day, they had a photograph-less meal at shin kushiya, only because n97 went flat and she forgot to bring the ixus60 out. recapping, that meal cost around $53.20. had unagi yanagawa ($10.80), some kushiyaki, comprising of kaki maki (oysters $5.80), gyu karubi (really juicy beef $3.80), black pepper yakitori (chicken $2.20) and swordfish sashimi (mekajiki $12.80). he liked the beef, while the wife liked the foie gras ($9.80 a stick).

pictures from the mussel guys shall be made as compensation for the above picture-less story. muahaha.

the wife had baked seafood rice. the plate was really large and she thought she had a good deal for $18.90. she got disappointed after she found a mountain of rice under the cheese, 3 mussels, 3 prawns, some fish and squid.


he ordered a belgium mussel main 350g. $19.90. they had a promo that day, gifting 200g for every 350g ordered, or 350g with every 500g ordered. decided not to be too greedy, which was the right choice, since the wife couldn't even finish 1/3 of what she had ordered.

anyway, mussels in cream below. this was the "free" 200g of mussels. salivating again while he's typing this.


and finally, the main dish of the night. belgium mussels. shell is black, as compared to the other mussels which are in green. the meat is also smaller than the green mussels. however, it tasted much sweeter and smoother to him.


closer look at the belgium mussels in the pot


a close up of the belgium mussel still in shell.


total damage, $45.65. ouch. not too happy with the service though, nobody served any ice-water from the moment they sat down till they'd finished looking through the menu, and while they were having their meal, waiters and waitresses checked on their table several times only to clear plates but not top up water. hospitality was a big minus for him.

beef noodles at PS

they loved the beef brisket noodles at kopitiam@PS. however, though the beef brisket is still as tender, the sauce didn't seem as savoury as before this time round.

beef brisket noodles $4


beef ball soup for an additional $1 to complete the set.