Konnichiwa! An All Japanese meal

My company organized a Team building program where they hired a chef to teach us how to do sushi the other day. Although I sort of know how to roll a sushi but Prince Charming always fuss with the vinegar taste of my Sushi rice. He finds it not "sourish" enough and hopes that I can make some for him to try since he knew that I enjoyed myself during the Sushi session in the office.

Oh well, how can I reject him? I've not been cooking/baking much stuffs recently and since Sushi isn't something that will take up the whole day, I beam with joy and told him that we'll have a All Japanese meal! I decided to add in Japanese Potatoes Croquette and Chawanmushi (Japanese Steam Egg). With this packet of Spicy Garlic Tori Karaage lying in my freezer, I decided to use it up since it's going to expire in 1 month's time.

Here's our Japanese Cuisine feast! Itadakimasu!

I was so full up from the meal and oh, I added cheese in the Croquettes. Yummmmmyyy!

Christmas is coming!

I baked cookies for Christmas last year as a give-away for my friends and my neighbors' kids.
Was wondering if I should bake them again this year or should I attempt to try something easier?

One of the kids asked me about the cookies the other day and she hopes to receive them again cause she likes the buttery taste. OMG.. does that indicate that I have to bake cookies and frost them again?!?!! I guess I probably need to get myself an assistant (exception of my Prince Charming cause he CANNOT cook/bake and he'll probably throw me with 100 questions about this and that.. LOL!)

It's finally FRIDAY! TGIF TGIF TGIF! Apparently, I'm feeling so lazy and sleepy in the office.
Just couldn't make myself more awake *Yawns* I blame the weather!

Catch me if you can! ;)

This is what I captured on video last night :)
I can see it quite clearly but maybe because Little Kwok is inside me and we are very well connected so that's why I know when's the exact timing.
Try spotting Little Kwok's kickings/movements! ^^

Pardon for the dark image cause I took it in the dark with just 1 bedside lamp switched on and oh well this was taken by my mobile so the quality may not be that good.

I want to go....

My Sis brought my niece to Tokyo recently and wow, Disneyland looks fantastic!
If only I could be there to play with my niece!! Told Prince Charming that I would want to bring our Little Kwok to Disneyland when Little Kwok is big enough to travel (say about 6 months old?)

He said he prefer to bring Little Kwok to Disneyland when Little Kwok is slightly bigger say about 2 years old. His logic is that if we bring Little Kwok to Disneyland before 1 year old, Little Kwok might not be able to remember what we did at Disneyland. Logical? Well, I don't quite agree but he is the boss so well.. Hahaha...!

Anyway, my Sis was so nice to buy some cute stuffs for my Little Kwok. She got Little Kwok a set of Mickey's house bibs and a set of Stitch infant clothes. The Stitch's set looks so cute!!! My niece, Charlotte told me that she misses me during her Japan trip. How sweet!

I'll share some of their Japan's trip pictures :)


That's Charlotte and my Brother-in-Law at some Shrine.


That's my Sister and Charlotte at Universal Studios :)


Charlotte and Sis at Disneyland. Spot Mickey Mouse?


That's my Sweetie Pie wearing a Mickey Mouse hairband.
So CUTE!!!


Happy Family ^^

My Weight Gaining Journey

I'm into my 21+ weeks of pregnancy and well... I gained up to 8kg already!
My weight gain seems to rocket especially in my 2nd trimester!

I still remembered losing 1kg during my 1st trimester because of the morning sickness symptoms and now getting back on track, the scale never seems to stop there. It'll just ..... goes up almost every week! I hope that's a good thing (Hopefully my weight gain are good signs that my Little Kwok is absorbing my nutrients and is growing very well) :)

Prince Charming took pictures of my tummy almost every week, if I'm not lazy.
Sometimes I'm just too tired to do anything that's why. I seriously need to be more hardworking to blog more about my life and pregnancy here.

Just some photos to share my joy ;)







If you notice, my tummy seems to balloon from 17 weeks onwards.
The difference is quite obvious :D

AND wait! My hair does'nt seems to grow!

My sweetie pie, Charlotte ^^

My cutie niece has just turned 2 years old this month and my oh my, how much has she grown!

She is now able to speaks clear and full sentences and also making very impressive expressions especially when she sees something that arouses her. It's no wonder the whole family dotes on her so much!

She knows that I'm pregnant now and won't be able to carry her like how I used to be and I was quite worried if this would sort of dampen her moods. It's bless that she is such an understanding baby! She likes to pat on my pregnant tummy and mumble "Charlotte sayang (dotes) Baby". So cute isn't it? I'm pretty sure my Little Kwok will love Charlotte and so do Charlotte :D

As you probably would have guess, with a 姨丈 who's a freak in photography she is already so used to the cameras around her and without doubts, she will definitely give you a nice shot whenever you lift up that camera in front of her! Well trained by Prince Charming! Haha!

Here's a video with Charlotte singing Barney's version of "I Love You" song.

She sings and start to hug everyone around her! So cute!! Oh, by the way she had a bit of sore throat that day :P

Korean Bibimbap with a tint of Chinese essence

It has been really really long since I cooked something special for my Prince Charming. I still have 2 Off days due from my Overtime and since Year end is coming soon, I took the chance to have a rest day today. It's been quite sometime since I last took some leave so I decided to do some simple cooking for my Prince Charming.

I woke up err... not very early but good enough to grab some fresh groceries from NTUC. I also went a bit of window shopping with my Mum and went with her for some KFC! Yummy.. I just realised that I only have to topped up 20 cents to upsize my drink from a regular size to a medium size. God, I guess it's been a long long time since I bought any KFC myself. Heee heee...

Anyway, I made simple Bibimbap for our Dinner cause it's won't take up too much of my time and I don't have to fight with the heat in the Kitchen. I don't have any stone pot or whatever you call it so I used a claypot instead. The main thing is to get some rice crackers! LOL~

Yummy~ This is really easy. All you need is dice some vegetables that you like, add in some meat of what you desire and an egg. Mix it with the self-made Gochujiang sauce and it's done!

Korean are really good with handling leftovers. Bibimbap is a wonderful dish that helps to lessen the chances of leftover and it is so easy and yummy! Of course, in Singapore Korean restaurants don't use leftover but you can see it in most Korean shows, don't you?

Mix and mix and mix. Ready to go!

Dinner time!!!!

I want this Diaper Bag!!!!!

This is my DREAM Diaper bag! So gorgeous!
If only I could get some sponsors to buy for me :P



Was thinking of getting it 1 month ago but due to currency dropping so hold it for a while (Auntie lah, wanna save more bucks) and then.. realized I couldn't buy it now cause I just pre-ordered a Medela Freestyle Breastpump that cost me $460!!! The Breastpump is definitely a must as I intend to breastfeed my Little Kwok and yup for at least a year if I can endure.

Oh.. can some nice souls out there buy this for me???? :P

The Flu and Cough bug

I should have taken well of myself.
I should really eat well.
I should avoid the crowded areas.
I should learn to take more Vitamin C.
I should not ignore Mum and Prince Charming's nagging.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I regretted not heeding the above :(
The stupid flu and cough bug stick to me like super glue. How I try to shun them off, they just wouldn't go! I hope the fever won't be my friend. Please don't come to me......

Been taking my medications prescribed by gynae regularly. Just praying hard I'll be well by next week. Baby, please do not get affected by Mummy ok? Baby must continue to grow well and be healthy :)

Hello Little Kwok! :)

Well, as you can see my "latest" updates was in July. Grrrr.. that's like 3+ months ago?
People have been asking me "Where did you go to?" "When are you going to start your cooking and baking?" "Why haven't you been blogging?" "Hello, your blog is growing mold!"

I'm finally going to reveal the answers to all the questions which were thrown to me at a rocket speed! As you know, I've been married for 2 years and both my Prince Charming and I thought: Hey, I think it's time for us to start our little family!" and *drum rolls* I'm having my little Kwok! ^^

It's not that I don't want to share this good news but being a Chinese *ahem PROUD Chinese*, I have to keep this wonderful news for a period for 100 days before I can finally spread it loud to the world :)

Finally, the day has arrived! I'm currently into my 14 weeks of pregnancy and though has been suffering from some bad Morning sickness for many couple of weeks, I'm still really enjoying my pregnancy! It's so amazing seeing my little bean developing a flickering heartbeat to a fully form little human now and who is happily swimming in my uterus.

I am wondering if I should blog my pregnancy journey here or should I start a new blog for my baby? Vote please!!!!!!!

I'm back!

After a long holidays (if only it's longer!), I'm finally back to blogging. Will be uploading my pictures shortly because Prince Charming snapped tonnes of them. I need some time to sort them out before revealing :)

Got myself a dozen of recipe books from Taiwan and oh man, they flooded my to-do list. I need to find time now for my kitchen. Attempting Creamy Butter Crab tomorrow. Yummy!

Wanderlust, here we COME!

Finally, the day of going back to Taiwan has tipped on my toes! Can't wait to stay at Wanderlust! The ocean, the sceneries, the high tea, the food and the relaxing atmosphere. Wanderlust, here we come! :)

We'll be on a family trip to Tai-Chung and will be also having a 2D1N farm stay! Can't wait to see those little lambs running besides me!

Wanderlust HomeStay: http://www.wanderlust.com.tw/

Strawberry Swiss Roll

Was watching "我猜我猜我猜猜猜" on Saturday night where they introduced a popular Swiss roll in Yilan, Taiwan. The Swiss roll is covered not only with cream but with a layer of strawberries and Milk pudding. Yes, Milk pudding! The creator took 8 months to bring out his perfect milk pudding recipe and I heard it was a craze in Taiwan.

Prince Charming asked if I could make them and I was telling him that if I could, I'll definitely sell it in Singapore! Oh well, I need to practice my baking skills really hard before I could really bake that good. Anyway to appease Prince Charming, I tried baking a Strawberry Swiss roll for him.

I used to think that baking swiss roll is never for me, because when I started baking it initially the base would always crack on me and I couldn't roll it up well. However, after many times of attempting it, they are a lot easier for me to handle now. Practice really makes a big difference!

Maybe I should really try out the milk pudding and see if I could roll them up huh? LOL!

三菜一湯 A Simple Fare

On every Saturday, both Prince Charming and myself would stay at home either to catch some DVDs or play some Wii or PS3. This is also the day where I would conquer the kitchen for almost the whole day to prepare for our usual Home cooked Dinner. I try to reduce the time of dining outside because of the oil and MSG intake, also for our weight maintenance. (More oil = More fats)

It has been sometimes since I start cooking some chinese dishes. The first thing that comes to my mind about Chinese cooking would be the preparations. They usually can take up the whole of my time if you notice. Anyway, I'm cutting short my story and let the pictures say it all :)

Fried Carrot Cake (Chai Tow Kway 菜頭粿）

Fried Carrot cake (Chai Tow Kway) is a common hawker dish that you can easily find in any part of Singapore. There are 2 types, typically the more 古早 Sweet Fried Carrot cake that is usually cooked with sweet sauce and is dark in color and the more savory one, Crispy Fried Carrot cake.

Personally, I favor the crispy kind more because I don't really like sweet sauce kind of food for instance, Char Kway Teow. Don't ask me why because I have no idea! My parents love Sweet Fried Carrot cake so I do take them occasionally especially if I am having breakfast with them and it happens that they are ordering that. I'm not a fussy person so I eat whatever is serve to me.

Prince Charming personally like both of them, one thing for sure he much prefers the Sweet sauce kind in the morning or as supper. He is not a very fussy eater as well so he eats what I serve to him! HAHAH :P

I made this Sweet Fried Carrot Cake as a supper for Prince Charming on Friday night. He likes it except that he finds the "Chai Po" or persevered radish too salty. I suggest soaking it in water to remove some of the salt content before using it.

Seafood Rice and Roasted Chicken

I made these for our dinner on Saturday. Although I have been spending quality time in my sweet kitchen, I haven't been hardworking enough to take pictures. Prince Charming is having his exams soon and I don't want to take up his precious time. As you know I am still a novice in Photography and it is so obvious because out of so many pictures that appear on my site, only 1% were taken by me. The latest one was the twin yolks! :(

Anyway, I'll learn to brush up my photography skills using a DSLR. I need more time!!!

Prince Charming was nice enough to offered his help for these pictures because I cooked it SPECIALLY for him! ;)

I want him to have a good dinner before he starts his studying schedules!

The Seafood rice comprises of prawns and squids only. They were the only seafood I managed to grabbed at NTUC on Friday night :( I replaced the usual raisins with dried cranberries and I though they were a perfect match! Dried cranberries comes with a tint of sourness and a little sweetness that works well to make the rice taste amazing! I used pork broth in place of water for the cooking and the aroma spread throughout my whole kitchen. Ahhhh wonderful smell!

The recipe for this roasted chicken came from a new recipe book that I accomplished lately. I topped the chicken with some honey and used the juice remains from the roasting with some brown sugar to make into a sauce to go with it. Tender juicy was what Prince Charming screamed when he made the first bite! That totally makes my day!

Meatball Soup & Steamed Dumplings

Prince Charming is down with some cough and some irritable throat, so I had to go easy with our dinner. He has specifically requested something light but not too plain. All I can think of was something soupy and less greasy.

We dropped down to the supermarket at the mall and did some grocery shopping. Due to the cough that Prince Charming has been struggling with, I decided not to attempt anything with poultry. My mummy always stop me and my siblings from taking any poultry whenever we are down with some coughs. I think according to Chinese, poultry products tend to worsen the condition of the cough. I am not too sure if there is any scientific research about it but I dare not take the risk. Looking at how Prince Charming cough while sleeping makes me sad :(

Serves 2~3
Ingredients	Amounts
Minced Pork	200g
Corn flour	2.5 tsp
Minced Prawns	2 ~ 3
Soy Sauce	2 ~3 tsp
Sesame oil	3 tsp
Pepper	2 tsp
Carrot, diced	1 medium size
Green onions, sliced	1 medium size
Pork broth	1 Can
Chye Sim	3 stalks
Water	300 ml

1. In a pot, pour the pork broth followed by adding in the green onions and carrots. Bring to cook over medium heat. Scoop away the fats that surface when boiling.
   
   
2. Turn the heat to low and continue with the cooking of the soup.
   
   
3. In a clean bowl, mixed the minced pork and prawns with pepper, sesame oil, corn flour and soy sauce. Keep the marinated mixture in the fridge till later use.
   
   
4. Observe the boiling soup and make sure that the diced carrots are softened. Roll the marinated pork mixture into small balls and drop into the boiling soup. The meatballs will float up when it is thoroughly cooked.
   
   
5. Add in the Chye Sim and simmer for another 3 mins.
   

* You may boil some mee hoon and top it with the soup. This serves as a Mee Hoon soup*


No additional seasoning was added to the soup and it tasted really sweet. The meatballs were springy and matches well with the soup base. Prince Charming had 2 big bowls of the soup of which one was served with Mee hoon :)


I used the left over pork mixture and wrap them into Siew Mai look-alike dumplings. I topped the dumplings with some wolfberries and it makes the dumplings look even cuter. Prince Charming call them "Fat Dumplings". The skins were shanghai dumpling skins which I got from Cold Storage, tasted good without the typical yellow noodle like taste comparing to the local yellow wantan skin.


On a side note, you may add in some wolfberries into the soup base as wolfberries have a general sweet taste and is good for the eyesight. Another knowledge that I learnt from my mummy :)


*UPDATES: Please ignore the word "Chicken" on the first two pictures of this entry. There were no poultry involved and I had no idea WHY did I added in Chicken. Sigh. Am I getting old?

Homemade Grill

On Friday, I met up with a couple of ladies from a local forum which I joined months ago. It was really nice hanging out with them! You would not believe that all of us only knew each other for not long, but we could relate to each other pretty well :)

After the mini gathering, I went off with Prince Charming to the supermarket for our BBQ Grill shopping! We have been talking about doing this for sometime and it seems that every time we talked about it, I would forgotten it the next moment! I have a bad memory to admit frankly.

Anyway, both of us finally had our taste on our own grilling session and it was FABULOUS!
Prince Charming commented that the grill tasted way better than the ones we had outside. I guessed it's because we had them in adequate amount comparing to surfeit ourselves when we dine outside.

We had the grill like the Koreans - Wrap the grilled food with sauce onto fresh leaves of lettuces.
It was awesome! I did the sauce using Gochujiang( Korean red pepper paste), some brown sugar, sesame oil and water. The sauce tasted heavenly. Try them out!

I've got Twins!

This is a super over-due post because I'm suppose to make this entry almost 1.5 months ago but I forgotten all about it! Anyway, you can call me a nerd or whatever but this is the first time that I actually strike a twins :)

Nono, I meant a Twin-yolk egg! I don't mind having twin babies actually, so I'm praying hard that if I'm pregnant, I hope to strike a pair of twins ;)

Ahem.... Grrrrr....Ahhhhh

As the subject header goes, am currently declared sick :(
Went to work on Monday with a bad headache and halfway through, I felt warm. Yes, I practically felt warm in an overly cold (think north pole) environment! That means something but I ignored it. Went lunch with Esther and was telling her how awful I'm feeling, surprisingly I can still eat but not as much as I usually do (think hippo). We chatted a while and I sort of felt really uncomfortable and had the desire to seek a doctor help (think crawling to the clinic).

I waited 30 mins before I finally get to see the doctor. He was amazing shocked that I'm running a high temperature (think Sahara desert). I don't have any other symptoms except for a mild painful throat so he is not very keen to give me antibiotics. He wanted me to monitor my temperature because if it persists, then he is suspecting it might be dengue (think hospital). Ah, I got dengue once and I would never want to have it again another time!!!! Was give 1.5 days of MC and I totally dragged my feet home.

Back home, was upset with my Prince Charming for leaving me alone at home and happily venture to his Beloved cousin's house for some PS3 actions. I was like so goddamn (*beep) angry but oh well, what can I do? I had my medicine, sleep and ignored him the whole night. I tried to push him down the bed but no strength so I walked myself to the living room to sleep :(

He's a heavy sleeper so he only realized that I was not by his side when he woke up at 5am. Grrr... I was like shivering in the living room since 3am! Anyway, I gave him a whole load of shit (*beep) that day and he eventually raised his white flag. Wheeee! I WON!

Back in the office now and I almost doze off while clearing my 400+ emails. If only I could have 2 more days to rest at home. Sighhhhhh..

Cooking on a Saturday

Finally, I cooked up something! I have been like working non-stop and getting a little lazy with my kitchen. I have so many to-do lists and none are being carried out! Ahhhh, please give me 100 hrs of free timeeeee!

Anyway, while Prince Charming went for his lessons I was busy in the kitchen making dinner for both of us. I've promised him that I'll cook something special for him tonight so, I better not disappoint him :)

Woke up not very early but managed to squeeze in the crowd at NTUC for some fresh crabs and vegetables. My first time buying crabs so was sort of having question marks all over me on choosing better quality crabs. I think the auntie was a little impatient waiting for me!



I made this <黯然銷魂飯> which originated from Stephen Chow's 食神movie.
All you need: Cooked rice, boiled vegetables, 1 sunny side-up and some char siew. EASY!

The char siew recipe was taken from Baking Mum. It's really simple and delicious!
One thing for sure, I'll definitely make more of them the next time! The sauce goes very well with the rice. Yummmy!


A closer look at the Char siew. Making me hungry all over again!


I whipped up one local delicacy for a side dish too. Remember I mentioned about crabs?
Yes, I did Singapore Chilli crabs! The thoughts of slaughtering these creatures were a little horror but when I handled them today, it was rather simple! All you need is sufficient strength to chop them into pieces!



I used local chilli so it wouldn't be too spicy. I don't want my Prince Charming to have any tummy ache which always happen, whenever he eat something very spicy.

Another simple dish to try out there :)

Serves 2~3
Ingredients	Amounts
Fresh live crabs	1kg
Chilli	3
Ginger	2 slices
Garlic	2 cloves
Beaten egg	1
Beaten egg	5 Tbsp

Seasoning sauce: 2 tbsp of Chilli sauce + 1 tbsp of Vinegar + 2 tbsp Sugar + 1 tsp Salt

1. Blend chilli, garlic and ginger into very fine mixture.
   
   
2. Heat oil in wok and fry the crabs till they turn red. Scoop up the crabs and set aside.
   
   
3. Stir in the chilli mixture into the work and stir fry for 2 mins.
   
   
4. Add in the cooked crabs and pour in the seasoning sauce.
   
   
5. Cooked till the mixture are well incorporated with the crabs.
   
   
6. Shut off the heat and stir in the beaten egg. Ready to serve.

Be extra careful when frying the crabs in hot oil. Due to the fact that there are still some moisture on the crabs, you may experience hot oil splashing out from the wok. For me, I hold the wok cover like an Armour to protect myself ;)

開飯囉~ (Dinner time!)

H.O.L.I.D.A.Y.S

I have been getting lazy lately. Haven't been doing much cooking/baking, although I just cooked some Fried Tom Yum Mee hoon last night. After the cooking it was already near to 12am, was so tired that I did not take any pictures.

Having just come back from a short getaway, I'm yearning for another holidays! I think that's human nature, never get enough of good things! Was thinking of how to celebrate our 2nd year Wedding Anniversary and thought, maybe we can go to Tai Chung. Prince Charming and I planned to visit different part of Taiwan on each of our Wedding Anniversary! ;)

I totally enjoyed my Hualien trip last year and love the minsu to core. Was searching for some minsu in Tai Chung and came across 若茵農場. Looks really beautiful! I've told Prince Charming about this place and he agreed that we could plan the next trip there!

Bali Inspiration

Zen Fusion

Sweet Cottage

Modern Urban