KEEP CALM AND READ ON

This is the FIRST Indian mama shop i see in Seattle!!!

Our friend Julius had just moved to University District. Well, we were really excited for him and wanna help him to ‘warm-up’ his new place on a chilly day in fall… So…while waiting for him, BH & I once again explored the neighbourhood and saw an interesting place!! haha.. Chili’s Deli & Mart (no website)We didn’t managed to take a front view of this shop BUT pls do not expect this place to look posh? heh.. in fact, it looks old , like those old indian coffee shops off Jalan Besar in SG

Anyhow, we haven’t eaten authentic Indian food for the longest time, so upon looking at the affordable prices of the menu, we decided to go give a try.. ( menu had vegetraian and non-vegetarian selections)

Right, the place was empty when we arrived… there were a no. of pple walking into the stall for take-aways and to buy cigaretts. The interior was very clean! Indian music was playing in the background with nice indian deco .. the aroma of spices and curry… 🙂

I ordered Masala Dosai – this came with chutney. Dosai was made on the spot.. it was hot and crispy. The potatoes were well marinated with spices.. and it tasted like those we had back home!!

BH ordered Chicken Briyani. It looks and taste different from what we have in SG. The difference is a good one! More spices! more fragant!

I also requested for Papudom ( indian crackers, i don’t know how to spell) and they gave it to us! The crackers are not the type I was expecting but still taste good!

Total bill with tips: US$23

A humble place with humble owners and they serve great food!! 🙂 Will go back again!

Here’s their address:
Chili’s Deli & Mart
5002 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105

My past few entries are on food and this is gonna so continue 🙂

BH and I had went to Shiro’s for dinner. We always wanted to try it but procastinated as the price is $$$. Anyhow, this place is a short walk from our apartment..

We were glad tt we walked there as it there were limited street parking near the resturant. We didn’t make reservation as it was kinda like a spontateous dinner date.. hmm… maybe I have been trained to be organised and make plans.. so I don’t like things that go too spontateously? like… i didn’t calculate our budget this mth to see if we can eat out.. blah blah… but BH was like ‘Nevermind la!’ So we just went..

We were greeted by friendly Japanese waitress * not pretty, if you were wondering* So we ordered Poke Belltown, which was reccommended by the waitress. It’s raw tuna marinated with a special sauce.. it taste really good! no fishy taste/smell.. we enjoyed it

Then we ordered a huge plate of 20 sushi ( chef selections) to share. Shiro’s is known for their sushi… Don’t see these 20 small looking sushi.. they are super filling can… I gave up after eating like 8 Sushi.. heh

So.. how can we end our fantastic dinner without something sweet?? hahah.. though the weather was cold, we can’t resist ourselves but ordered Chocolate Mochi Ice-cream

ah… i dunno y but i fondly thought of one of my fave Jap resturant in SG – Sun with Moon Japanese Dining (Wheelock Place) .. i miss that soft cheesecake in a cage.. ya know? hehehe

So the total bill with tips – US$85! :O I guess it’s worth it for quality food?

We walked home and saw this interesting deco at a party shop near our home.. haha

Trick or treat? ;p

Today, I accidentally baked cupcakes !! 😛

So everything started on well.. pre-heat the oven, coated the baking round pan with baking spray and beat the flour, water, oil! So very happy… the mixture looks perfect!! put into the oven… tried to clear the ‘mess’ to only realise… I FORGOT TO PUT THE EGGS!!!

Panic sia… I was like.. i surely ‘Ultimate Cake-off’ , Amanda’s edition ( Cake-off form!) I have been baking for many many times – how cld i forget the eggs??? luckily, i only put the mixture in for only 3 mins… quickly took the mixture out, put into the mixing bowl and beat the eggs with it… The round baking pan was dirty with my ‘mistake’ so I didn’t reuse it.. decided to bake cupcakes instead…

Actually, I was feeling kinda hopeless that today’s cake surely not nice….. sianz…. BUT…. to my surprise!!!

*tadah!!* Fresh from the oven! Looks good! smells good! heaved a sigh of relieve! some cupcakes look ‘ugly’ BUT nvm.. they are gonna be frosted – so cannot see!

I waited for the cake to cool down then I prepared the tools for frosting and decorating

After deco…

Can u see the words? haha… it writes “ I *heart* U Oct 14 ’09 ” No special meaning..That’s the easiest thing to frost.. Y kiwi fruit and grapes? That’s what I have in the fridge

heh.. actually, I have not tasted the cupcakes… seriously,i hope it tastes as good as it looks! And it’s my 1st time working with frosting!!! haha… quite satisfied with the results!

Note to myself:
1) To buy RED colour fruits like strawberries in future, rainbow rice & chocolate rice for deco.
2) Do not put too much mixture in 1 cupcake cup

i seriously do not wanna turn my blog into a food blog! haha… but I can’t help it!

Here’s what I cooked on Monday 😀 It’s one of my fave food from my mum.. so she told me the recipe and I cook it.. It’s great to cook this dish when u have too much potatoes! ( Yes, potatoes are cheap here, like 99cents a BIG bag! so I always end up with a huge bag.. heh.. besides cooking curry or stew I cook this too!)

It doesn’t look this nice all the time… (Hint: Use more oil! *unfortunately*)

12 Oct’09

Dec’ 08

heh.. skill improved right?? 🙂

Right, below shows the recipe.. Need to type it down somewhere as what I have is on a book

———-

Pork Steak

Prepare this before hand:
1) Biscuit crumps – from any type of crackers.
2) Boil potatoes until it becomes soft. The softer the better, easier to mash
3) Slice coriander leaves

How to cook:
1) Mash potatoes
2) Sprinkle salt in mashed potatoes
3) Put coriander leaves, mince meat and pepper in the mixture
4) Mix well
5) Separate egg white from egg yolk
6) Put egg yolk in mixture. Mix well again
7) Make mixture into flat balls
8 ) *IMPORTANT* Put balls in biscuit crumps then coat with egg white!
9) Put oil in pan. Pan-fry till golden brown

BH and I tried out this Thai resturant after reading good reviews on yelp

Street parking is limited .. so we parked at the nearby safeway and walked to the resturant 🙂

We reached the place by following the address… but we were kinda surprised that the name that we know: ‘Ying Thai Kitchen’ is not the name of the resturant. The name is ‘The Thai Kichen’… so… ok… we reached the place and it seems quiet and aloof… uninviting, the doors are closed… BH and I hesitated .. I was like ” since it’s so good… y does it look so quiet at dinner time?’

so since we were there and we seriously do not know what else to eat, we went ahead. Entered the resturant to find that the place is actually quite crowded! haha… it’s a nice cozy place… the price is affordable – in fact quite cheap!

At a Thai resturant, definitely we must order pad thai right? haha… so tt’s what we did. Pad thai tastes good and authentic! yummy! 🙂

Bh ordered Ying’s special fried rice with beef. Smells good!!! taste good!

oh well.. just like 2 kids, we were trying to spite each other with the food we ordered… haha.. the portion was HUGE and we had no room for deserts!

Total bill with tips: US$25

We will definitely go back there again 🙂

As we were exploring the neighbourhood, we discovered an interesting place: How to Cook a Wolf wow!! looks so good and interesting… hope to try the food there one day – it’s $$$!!! and they are accepting reservations for Valentine’s Day next year alr!!! awww…. *hintX100000000* BH doesn’t really read this blog 🙁

keke.. no claypot.. so used the rice cooker.. still taste good! ( my mum’s cooking is much much better 🙁 )

This is the EASIEST to cook 1 dish meal! why??
1) No need to fry = no need to clean the stove = no need to wash the pan
2) Healthy (erm.. remove all fat and skin from chicken and use low/no fat Chinese wax sausage..) = no additional oil required!
3) Easy to pack for lunch

How to cook? Super simple! what can go wrong??!!
1)clean the chicken fillet ( remove fat. skin.. blah blah)
2)slice chicken and Chinese sausage into smaller pieces
3) marinate chicken with oyster sauce, dark sauce, soy sauce, pepper, sesame oil, abit of rice wine. Leave marinated chicken for 1 hr
4) cook rice. wait for it to 1/2 boil (means when u see bubbles) put the meat and Chinese sausage on top. Spread out ingredients evenly
5) Rice cooked = meat cook! ( serious! wah! i was afraid the meat won’t be cooked!)
6) Add garnish ( spring onions, coriander leaves, fried shallots) and serve!

*Rice will be brown in colour because of the marinated chicken

I think I will be cooking more of this in future 🙂 heh.. little mess.. less preparation time!

Woke up today.. after preparing breakfast… I prepared food for dinner.. oh yes.. i cook everyday! cooking isn’t my fave thing to do… but I just cook cook cook… ( at least we had Indo Cafe for lunch today! heh… )

Laksa with the REAL noodles!! ( It is called rice vermicelli here.. yummy! Thanks to my mum who ‘discovered’ this noodles when she was here ;p )





Laksa with gravy! (Added Tau po and Jap fish cake )





Ready to eat!





Dessert – Purple sweet potatoes soup with dried longan





The total preparation time is 45mins? haha.. and the food taste great! but my mum’s laksa definitely taste better 🙁