One more time

One more time, baby... One more time baby...
A Chinese song by Raymond Lam (Lam Fung). The song has been out for a while, it's not that I just listening to it... I've been listening for quite a while (Of course!!! I'm a super big fan of Lam Fung!).
Lam Fung's first Mandarin album - First 第一次. Yes first time he has all Mandarin songs in an album ^^.
The more I listen to this song, the more I become obsessed to it =P
Lam Fung has lotsa dancing to do in this song and I think he did a really great job! You can watch the official MV in YouTube and the one I'm sharing here is the live version!
Look at Lam Fung doing dancing and singing on live! Such a great job! Undoubtedly, he is a really good singer (dancing and singing at the same time... not an easy job!).|
Enjoy Lam Fung's performance!!!

P/s: Lam Fung's latest album 《林峯LF》is out!!! 十扑 十扑 (support support) Okay ^.^

Warm and Sweet Chicken & Corn porridge

Again, freezing cold weather so I decided to cook porridge for dinner ^^

Have got some corns and a chicken drumstick... Shall I just cook chicken and corn porridge? YES!!! I have no choice lol!

Sharing my recipe with you~

Ingredients: - 1 chicken drumstick

                    - 1 sweet corn, chopped into small pieces

                    - 1 or 2 slices of ginger

                    - 1/3 cup of rice

Steps:

1. Wash rice, chicken and corn and chop corn into small pieces.

2. Cook rice in a pot until the water is boiled.

3. Put chicken and corn into the pot to cook with the rice when the water is boiled.

4. Cook for 45 minutes or until the rice is cooked thoroughly (or depending on how soft the rice you want it to be).

5. Seasoning with salt to suit your taste (the porridge is sweet enough so just add a little of salt will do).

6. Slice the chicken before eating.

7. Serve it hot!!!

Cooking in progress~

Tadah, the end product~
The sesames are just for decoration =P (you can eat them with the porridge as well if you like).

Look really good for me~
Warm and sweet... Best for winter!!!

Hope you like it! Bon appetit~

Zenya Ramen Restaurant @ Eastwood

Had dinner with Ai Vee at Eastwood. Freezing cold weather...What to eat leh? After something that was warm and soupy ^^
Ai Vee said that there's a nice Ramen restaurant in Eastwood so they decided to go that restaurant!
Add an extra $3 to get gyoza or takoyaki and a complimentary salad with special dressing when ordering any ramen or udon~
So, we both ordered this set!

The complimentary salad

Really nice Takoyaki

Gyoza

Ai Vee's Karaage chicken ramen

My Cha Shu ramen

Nice dinner, nice ramen and nice side dishes ❤

Triple Chocolate Muffin

Had some times to do cooking today. First experience baking triple chocolate muffin, so excited!!! Searched on the web to look for some recipes and I decided to adapt the recipe from taste.com.au ^^

Here's the recipe from the website:

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted
• 100g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup white choc bits
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 190°C/170°C fan-forced. Line a 12-hole, 1/3 cup-capacity muffin pan with paper cases.
2. Combine flour, cocoa, dark chocolate, white choc bits and brown sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Add milk, oil and egg. Using a wooden spoon, stir until just combined. (Tips: Don't overmix muffins, or they can become tough and chewy.)

    3. Spoon mixture into paper cases.

    4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until browned and cooked through.

This is how the muffins look after 5 minutes...

And after 15 minutes...

    5. Stand in the baking pan for 5 minutes.

    6. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

 

    7. Serve it =)

OMG!!! I don't believe that my first attempt turned out to be SUCCESSFUL!!! The muffin is surprisingly good! (Maybe I'm really talented lol =P)

I hope you enjoy it and have a try baking yourself ❤

Chatswood BBQ Kitchen 好上好燒腊小厨 @ Chatswood

Dinner at Chatswood BBQ Kitchen (好上好燒腊小厨)~
Told you I would dine in the BBQ Kitchen one day and I finally did with a few friends, eating something more than just the BBQ! A dinner for four so three dishes should be enough. Had a really long look at the menu... well, yes they have lotsa dishes and it's so hard to decide what to eat (everything sounds good!) and here's our final decisions...

Tadah~

Roast duck and roast pork (燒鴨 & 燒肉)

Minced pork, eggplant and mushroom with fish sauce in hot pot (鱼香茄子煲)

Salt and pepper squid (椒鹽鱿鱼)

Honestly, they are all really good! Especially the hot pot, a very good choice when you eat it with rice! The BBQ are just as good as ALWAYS and this was my first time eating chinese style salt and pepper squid and they are really good!
Very satisfying dinner and I'll definitely visit the BBQ Kitchen again to try other dishes!!!

AND I was lucky enough to see someone who I haven't seen for ages after we finished dinner and headed to the Gelatissimo for gelato! He looks just the same as always ❤

Sweeeeeeet Potato Dessert

Not my cooking this time but it's a piece of cake for me (and for everyone of course), I've cooked it for n times lol.

Came back from work in a very freezing cold weather... So sweet that my landlady had saved me a bowl of warm sweet potato dessert which really warmed me up =D

Nice dessert recipe to share with you! Very easy and it only takes 15 minutes! Have a try =)

Ingredients: - 1 sweet potato 

                   - 1 or 2 slices of ginger

                   - Brown sugar in pieces (片糖), depending on how sweet you would like it
                     to be

Steps:

1. Cut the sweet potato into small pieces (but not too small)
2. Boil the sweet potato and ginger in a pot of water (not too much water, about half a pot and you can  always add more water if it's too little)
3. Cook for 15 minutes, use a fork or spoon to poke if the sweet potato has softened,  then add the brown sugar into the dessert.
4. Try the taste and add more brown sugar if you like.
5. Serve it warm =)

Tadah~
Warm and sweet potato  dessert ❤

HD's birthday dinner @ 1945, Pyrmont

Another birthday dinner... But it's not mine, it's HD tonight! Happy Birthday to you~ ♪

So we had HD's birthday dinner with the group again at 1945. You must be thinking why the restaurant is called 1945? 

1945 is an Indonesian Restaurant, particularly stepping back to the  time when Indonesia was under the colonisation of Dutch. Also, year 1945 refers to the year Indonesia declared independence (according to an Indonesian friend of mine). One special thing about 1945 (the restaurant) is that it shows the Dutch East Indies tradition of rijsttafel (rice table, literally translated from a Dutch word), where many side dishes are served in small portions, accompanied with rice, in several different ways; and in 1945, it is served in a REALLY BIG plate. 

A portrait in the restaurant...
I really wonder who is the lady??? Should have asked the waiter or waitress!

The menu
It's made of wood

The menu again...
This one with 2 doors, nicely presented~

Some special menus recommended by the chef ^^

It took us ages to decide what to order because there are many choices of mains, condiments, street food and etc listed in the menu. There are also set menus which is served individually in a BIG plate.

Some photos of what we ordered (there are many more photos but I didn't get to take the photos... These are just some of my own meal and food ordered by someone sitting close to me).

Es TjintjaoGrassjelly drink with pandan flavoured fresh milk and palm sugar

Teh Potji Strong brewed jasmine tea served with rock sugar (serves 3)

Rijsttafel Tempo Doeloe
Set Menu 1
Served with: Nasi Koening & Seroendeng (Tumeric Rice topped with Spiced grated coconut), Ayam Goreng Kremes (Deep fried tumeric chicken), Babi Ketjap (Stewed pork belly), Sajoer Asem (Tamarind soup), Perkedel Djagoeng (Corn fritter), Sate Babi (Grilled pork skewer), Sambal Goreng Kentang Boentjis (Stir-fried french beans), Sambal Oedang Petai (Stir-fried prawn in chili sauce), Kroepok Oedang (Prawn crackers), Boeboer Ketan Hitam (Black glutinous porridge dessert)

The boeboer ketan hitam

Bamie Ayam Djamoer
Chicken and mushroom dry noodle served with fried dumplings and beefball

Nasi Goreng Kampoeng Traditional Indonesian fried rice served with fried egg, pickes and bitternut crackers

I'm regret that I'm unable to show you more photos... Some other dishes the  others have ordered were: Rendang Daging, Mie Tek-Tek, Babi Ketjap etc.
There are too many choices that you will definitely not running out of options even after a few visits!

Reading with PASSION ❤

Have been waiting for the third book of the Fallen series for nearly a year and I FINALLY got my copy today (well, it's actually out for nearly a month but I didn't realise it =.=")!!!

I know people might say "hey, it's teen reading!". Well, it is kind of teen's choice as it is more to fantasy romance... I'm reading it because I am a dreamer lol !!! I prefer fantasy or fiction haha!
Gonna bury myself in reading again =)
Bon reading (is this even a word? Whatever...)

PASSION by Lauren Kate
The third book of Fallen series.
(The series always have nice cover page =D)

The first and second book are FALLEN and TORMENT, respectively if you are interested ^^

Fallen

Torment

Told you the cover pages are really nice!!! Am I right? =P

Thousand year egg chicken porridge

Haven't been cooking for really long time!!! The food I miss the most is the thousand egg chicken porridge - my mum's special recipe. Well, it doesn't look really different from those selling outside but I'm pretty sure they taste different (well of course!!! Cause everyone has different styles and skills =P). I'm proudly saying that my porridge tastes the same as the one my mum cooks (I'm inherited her skills and styles lol). 

You're lucky cause I'm gonna share the recipe with you here ❤
Remember that everyone can still produce the porridge with different tastes (so if your first try turns out to be not that nice, don't be sad cause PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT =D)!!! 

Recipe (2-3 serves)

Ingredients: - 2 Thousand year eggs

                       - 2 Salted eggs 

                       - 2 Chicken drumsticks

                       - 1/2 cup of rice

 

Steps:

1. Marinade the chicken drumsticks with a little salt and white pepper.

2. Boil water to cook the salted eggs. When they are cook, peel the shells, cut into small cubes and set aside.

3. Simmer the thousand year eggs boiled water for 3-5 minutes (this is to reduce the smell of the thousand eggs as they are really stink!). Peel the shells, cut into small cubes and set aside after taking them out from the boiled water.

4. Cook the rice in a pot (tips: Don't worry too much about the water level, you can always add water when it runs out of water).

5. When the rice is boiled (I mean the water) then put the chicken into the pot to cook with the rice.

6. Cook the rice till it's cooked and soft (depends on how you like your porridge to be, some people like it really soft while some people prefer less soft).

7. Put the salted eggs and thousand year eggs into the porridge and cook. Stir it. (Tips: you can cook the eggs with the porridge longer for richer taste of the eggs)

8. Take the chicken out from the pot and slice them (Tips: use 2 forks to slice them) and then stir in the chicken slices into the porridge.

9. You can add some salt and MSG (optional) depending on how salty you would like it to be.

10. It's ready to be served!!!
11. Serve it while it's hot. (Eating tips: Add some sesame oil and white pepper to the porridge. You can also add shallots or fried red onions. This is optional step if you don't like it.)  

I hope you like it =D

Sizzle sizzle sizzle

Small dinner gathering with the gang at Artarmon, Sydney last night. Right! So I travelled all the way from Eastwood to Artarmon; I know some people who drive may say "well, it's 20 minutes drive! Not that far!". Yea, true it's not that far if you drive but I was taking public transport which took me more than double the driving time (there's no direct transport so I had to take a bus from my house and then take train from Chatswood)! I don't mind travelling far for GOOD FOOD though =)

So the restaurant I was heading was Yakiniku Restaurant Wakana. Yakiniku - grilled meat on a smoking hot grill. I've tried Korean BBQ for n times but this was the first time I had Japanese BBQ. Wakana is a side street off Artarmon's main strip Hampden Road (opposite the Artarmon train station); it's a small restaurant so it  will be wise if you have a big group of people to dine in (they open 6pm but it becomes full house really quick!).

The built in hot grill.
Everyone has a plate of 3 different dipping sauces - sesame, peanut and not sure what's the last one (it tastes like soy sauce but a little sour, maybe it's just vinegar).

Tanya and HD were the first people to arrive. Like me, they are very punctual =P

Complimentary salad

Some chit chat while Rina was ordering the food.

Beef tongue
Again, I'm not eating it. These were just theirs!!!

Pork belly

Beef tongue and pork belly sizzled in the grill.

Chicken with some marinated sauce (not sure what's that sauce though lol)

Wagyu beef
Ok so, this was the reason they like to come to Wakana (my first time but not theirs)!
Basically they had wagyu beef for the whole dinner. Everyone was just eating the beef except for me eating chicken and pork!

Wagyu beef curry rice
They ordered  two of this to share between two tables (except for me again lol)

Tanya showing her very satisfying look after eating her wagyu beef!
She was like "Mmmmmm, yummy!"

Pork belly
This was really yummy!!! I like to eat it with the sesame sauce also without dipping any sauces (it already tastes good without dipping anything!!!)

I heard Yoyo saying that Wakana is popular with locals for its excellent value for the amazing wagyu. I'm not sure with that, you know the reason... But I'll also recommend for its great pork belly and chicken =D

Here's the address and phone number if you feel like a yakiniku~

Wakana Yakiniku Restaurant
2A Broughton Road, Artarmon, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9419 7499

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Saturday 12pm-3pm and 6pm-9.30pm (Friday and Saturday til late)
Sunday 6pm-9.30pm
Closed on Mondays

Naughty lunch from Eastwood BBQ Kitchen

Took away lunch from Eastwood BBQ Kitchen (好上好烧腊小厨) - A Hong Kong style BBQ. I know there's a new restaurant started operating recently in Eastwood (location: previously De Macao Cafe) but they have a small shop at the same roll as Super Fresh Supermarket (next to a DVD store) and the shop is only for take away order (I guess this is for the convenience of the customers as they won't be a big crowd waiting in the restaurant to order take away BBQ). And since they have good business, it's really wise to keep this small shop =)

Haven't really dine in the restaurant after it started operating but I have been taking away BBQ from the small shop since their opening in Eastwood earlier this year (another branch is at Chatswood). Honestly, their BBQ are really great! I used to take away BBQ from another BBQ shop in Eastwood (not gonna mention the name here); and since I tried the BBQ from Eastwood BBQ Kitchen, I don't take away BBQ from that shop anymore (what does this mean? Means the BBQ from Eastwood BBQ Kitchen taste better than the other one!).

Let's see what've I taken away today~
It's on the special menu and I don't see this at the Chatswood branch.

咸蛋三寳飯
Erm... I have no idea how to translate this...
Salted egg with three treasure rice (crap -_-|||)???

It has really big serve! And I normally divide into 2 meals.

Yum yum, very attractive （¯﹃¯）

So, what's the three treasure?
Salted egg with 3 different BBQ - soy sauce chicken, char siew and lub cheong
I ❤ the chicken ALOT!!! We don't have this kind of chicken in Malaysia.
In Malaysia, we normally have the steam chicken (白斩鷄) and roasted chicken (烧鷄) while Hong Kong style BBQ do not have roasted chicken (they have dried scallop steamed chicken and soy sauce chicken).
One of the reasons I love the chilcken is because of the ginger and shallot which meant to be eaten with the chicken. Don't think it's JUST ginger and shallot!!! It just tastes more than that!

OK I know it's so FATTENING to have BBQ as lunch!!! BUT BUT BUT I only have it once in a while so I won't gain too much weight from that *finger crossed*

Hopefully I'll get to visit the restaurant soon (not as soon though)! If you are a big fan of BBQ, I'll recommend you to try EASTWOOD BBQ KITCHEN / CHATSWOOD BBQ KITCHEN ^^