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Sizzling/Hotplate tofu

Nothing excites me more than cooking 🙂

I surf for recipes when I’m bored.. I stay up just to look for what’s new to cook.. OMG.. I like cooking! Just that.. I cook faster than my hubby could eat.. eeks… not that it’s not nice.. but I cook too much? haha

This dish is one example of me trying to cook more than what the recipe calls for. It was also the first time that I’m using my Happycall pan ( yes, before it became sadcall)

Sizzling Tofu recipe

(from Cuisine Paradise)

Ingredients:
1 Tube of Egg Tofu
2 – 3 Fresh Shittake Mushroom, cut into thick slices
1/2 Small Carrot, cut into slices
1 Pack Sweet Peas
2 Eggs, light beaten
2 Slices of Ginger
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon of Cornflour
Some chopped Spring Onion And Chilli

Seasoning:
1/2 Teaspoon Chicken Powder
Splash of Cooking Wine

Method:-

1. Cut the tofu into equal pieces(around 6 – 8 pieces), lightly coat them with cornflour and set aside.

2. Preheat HCP on low heat for 1 minute, drizzle 1 teaspoon of oil in the pan, arrange the prepared tofu on the pan, cover and lock.

3. Fry tofu for 2 minutes(flip after 1 minute) or till slight golden brown. Remove and set aside.

4. Next add in 1/2 tablespoon of oil, add in minced garlic, ginger, mushroom and carrot. Lock and cook on low heat for 1 minute, open and add in sweet peas together with 1/2 teaspoon of chicken powder and splash of cooking wine, give a quick stir and cook for another 1 minute.

5. Lastly, arrange the cooked tofu in the pan, slowly drizzle beaten egg around the ixture. Cover the pan and cook for 20 – 30 seconds depending on your preference. (the egg mixture will continue to cook due to the heat of the pan so do not overcook the egg)

6. Turn off the heat, remove the pan and serve hot with some extra spring onion, freshly ground black pepper and cut chilli scattered on top.

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If you are wondering.. I realised that Happycall cooks omelet BEST – shall post one soon! The magic or rather maximum number of eggs the pan can accommodate is 3 large eggs – any more than that, it will not look nice aesthetically

As you can see from my pic, I doubled the ingredients in the recipe.. and the eggs were not too cooked ( 1/2 cooked eggs taste nice too!) It was very difficult to dish out.. when I dish it on the plate.. it looked like a HOT MESS. haha.. yes… so ugly.. that i didn’t dare take pictures!!! It taste really like zhu chao style though

Shall attempt this dish again!

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I am a Princess

Great clip from Disney 🙂

http://youtu.be/qUGnu0gXtn4

I am a Princess.

I am brave sometimes. I am scared sometimes. Sometimes, I am brave even when I am scared.

I believe in loyalty and trust. I believe loyalty is built on trust.

I try to be kind. I try to be generous. I am kind even when others are not so generous.

I am a Princess.

I think standing up for myself is important. I think standing up for others is more important. But standing with others is most important.

I am a Princess.

I believe compassion makes me strong. Kindness is power. And family is the tightest bond of all.

I have heard I am beautiful. I know I am strong.

I am a Princess. Long may I reign.

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Marble cake *again*

I think this is a very forgiving cake.. Heh.. Something wasn’t right while preparing the batter.. But still turns out alright 🙂

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My 1st and last Chanel earrings~~

Did u guess it right?

I have been looking for a particular design of Chanel earrings for a long time.. since April .. and only found it in Sept! It took me 3 countries to find it – France, Italy, Singapore BUT found it in the USA! I didn’t know that it was soooo close to me all the while!

 

Pretty? 😀 Extremely thankful for having a doting hubby who bought this for me. The weekend we came back to Seattle..BH offered to bring me to Neiman Marcus= Chanel! I was shocked… after spending so much $$$ .. I thought I won’t be buying anything for a long while… BH was like “Just go and see… no need to buy…”

At the store, I didn’t see anything I like. I took out a picture of the earrings which I was searching high and low for… and the SA told me that she could order for me!! OMG!! It’s available!! Without a 2nd thought, I told her ” I WANT IT!” She ordered the first pair for me ( haha.. yes.. first pair), it arrived a few days later. As i happily went to the store to collect, I noticed the obvious difference of the size of the pearls on each side of the earrings! I know.. I am so picky.. but i just can’t take such imperfections… so I told her that I want to see another pair just to be sure. Another few days later… The 2nd pair arrived… and it was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT – I wore it on the spot! Happy!! Then.. I realised… I was too focused on checking the size of the pearls that I didn’t notice a slight.. just very slight tarnish on 1 side of the hardware ( the small part which is holding onto the double C design and the pearl) Gosh! well.. I am just gonna keep this pair of earrings – it’ll tarnish anyway.. it’s a matter of time..I still love it 🙂

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Paper wrapped cupcakes

Fresh from the oven! Smells soooooo gd!

I followed the recipe from Christine’s Recipes but used muffin pans instead. I find it troublesome to cut the parchment paper, so used cupcake liners for some of the batter. However, the cakes in the cupcake liners turned out to be hard :/ The cakes wrapped in paper were good! I personally find the cake not sweet and a bit dry. It still taste nice though. I will try another variation in future > Orange Paper Cupcakes

Makes 16 cupcakes ( using muffin pans)

Ingredients:

5 eggs
50 grams butter
60 ml milk
100 grams cake flour (available at supermarket or Asian stores)
80 grams sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extra
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Melt butter in a microwave oven or heat over boiling water in a bowl. Separate the egg yolks and the egg whites.

2. Add the melted butter into milk, then sift cake flour into it and mix well. Add whisked egg yolks and vanilla extra into the mixture, mix thoroughly.

3. Use an electrical mixer to beat egg whites for 3 minutes, then add cream of tartar and blend again. Pour sugar in the egg whites and blend until very stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into the flour mixture gently with a rubber spatula just until all ingredients are incorporated. Do not stir or beat. For a better result, fold in egg whites with small amount at a time for 3 times.

4. Pour batter into cup cake molds that are already lined with baking paper ( 5.5″ X 5.5″ for each muffin pan). Bake at 180C for 25 to 30 minutes. Check with a toothpick to see if the cakes are done. If the toothpick comes out of the cake clean, then they’re ready. Allow the cakes to cool for a minute or two in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Note:
* I placed the cakes at the top rack of the oven at the last 5mins so that the cake will be more brown 🙂

 

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How to remove white residue from Hunter boots?

White residue is also know as ‘Bloom’

As the weather gets a bit cooler, I took out my rainboots which I adore dearly. I was shocked to see white residue on the boots!! At first, I thought it was dust/mould/dirt.. so I cleaned it using wet wipes and air dry the boots. However, the white marking came back again! I was devastated!

Did a search online and it says I could clean it off with a cloth and mild detergent. I tried it and…. the white markings still appear after boots were dried! 🙁

Finally.. found the solution on PurseForum! Initially, I wanted to buy the Hunter sponge ($5) and spray ($12). I went to Neiman Marcus and they did not sell them 🙁 No choice.. I got to use Armor All, which also works. I was hesitant to use Armor All as I felt that it might be too strong and it could damage the boots. I went to Target and there was only 1 container of Armor all Protectant wipes ($4.50) left – bought it and tried on our car’s wheels.. WORKS!

Spent the evening cleaning my boots… BH was teasing me – saying that I’m in NS and the sergeant just told me to clean my boots… heyhey! cleaning boots is quite therapeutic ok!

Dull with white residue
Shiny and new!
Armor All saves the day!

hahaha.. in the end… I not only cleaned my Hunter.. I also cleaned the rest of the shoes! I am just amazed by how good these wipes are!!! No wonder there’s only 1 container left! Phew… luckily, I didn’t buy the Hunter sponge and spray – Armor All works and it’s cheaper too!!!

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The happiest day of my life…

is not when I fell in love.. or graduated… or got married… BUT it’s when I broke my bond. The feeling of joy and freedom is something which words cannot describe! 🙂 I was and still am happy! The money that I needed to pay is a BIG amount but it’s lesser than what I had anticipated. The rumors or whatever additional interest is NON-EXISTENT!

If you have been following my blog or if you are my friend, you may be aware of my situation. As my no pay leave came to an end, I was very afraid and emotional. I didn’t want to leave my hubby.. either do I want to leave what I have here. BH had always been very supportive.. ever since Day 1 of my ‘suffering’ he already knew that he would want to ‘rescue’ me from my agony. I’m blessed.

After years of saving and mental torture, I made the decision to resign. The process was smooth. I went back to SG, got a cashier’s order and the bond was resolved. “Money solves all problem” my sister likes to say. How true!

My parents were quite upset and disappointed. They compared me to other people who are still in their jobs. You know, the difference between those people and me? They got their spouse with them. Yes, I admit that I am very needy and dependent – there’s NOT a tiny bit of being a ‘career woman’ in me. I’m just the kind of woman who likes to do housewifey stuff.  Is that wrong? Then again, I really don’t mind serving my bond if BH have the intention to go back. The problem is he doesn’t – at least not for now 🙁

The good thing is.. my friends in the US commented that I look more radiant and happy when I returned this time round .. it’s amazing! how a bond can make such a difference in my life!

What’s the plan now? Don’t ask me about kids.. we are not prepared yet. We are staying in a 1-bedroom rental and having kids would mean we need a bigger space. Bigger space means more expensive rental. Expensive rental does not make sense because the amount of money for rental is enough for monthly mortgage of a big house! Sigh.. and we can’t get a house yet because of our HDB. BH and I are hoping to get a dog first.. As for kids, not now.. maybe 4 years later 🙂

Now… let’s enjoy!! There’s no reason to be upset anymore! yay!!

Thank you God! Thank you BH for giving me every damn thing I wanted, regardless of size, price, length and whatever you can think of! The best 4th 6eptember ever!

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In time

“one day… just one day…”

“give me a minute…”

“don’t waste my time..”

“time is money..”

Does all the above sound familiar? These phrases are things we say/hear quite frequently! well.. BH recommended that I watch the movie “In time” He was like.. ” It’s a great movie! I love it! You will love it too…” haha… it’s interesting that he thinks that I’ll be interested in the same things as him. Nevertheless I watched..

Besides the pretty actress and cute actor.. this movie also have a amazing plot (in my humble opinion) I like how the movie portray a extreme type of lifestyle which reflects the life we are leading now

The plot brings us to a world where the amount of time you have is indicated on your arm. Time stops when one reaches 25 years old – so you practically stop aging at 25! How cool!! This means you will be forever young!!! 😀 However, you need to ‘make time’ by working. Your salary is in terms of ‘time’ ( you could earn ‘years’, days’, ‘minutes’ each day) When you want to make a purchase or pay bills , you pay by time (you can give ’30mins’ as a gift!)

This concept can be confusing  .. but it’s extremely thought provoking!  Can you imagine if you are living by the minute or if you only had 1 day to live? What would you do? If you can live to 100 years , how are you going to manage your time?

[Added on] Just recalled this part of the movie – There’s a scene which shows Justin eating alone in a posh restaurant. The waitress came and asked him ” You are not from here aren’t you? ” Justin was eating really fast as he was from the ghetto – he does not have ‘time’ to waste. This part reminds me of myself. I used to eat really fast because I don’t have the luxury of time to chew, appreciate and taste my food. In recent years, I realized that I eat really slow..  like I will be one of the last few who is still eating when everyone is done. I guess, my life here is much slower.. maybe I am one of those with at least ’10 years’ on my arm… haha

I know.. u probably don’t know what I am talking about… so watch the movie!