我的试验室 My Lab

These mulberries were freshly picked from our friend's garden. 

They are so so so sweet.

Have to wait till next spring to taste it again.

This is a very aromatic ayam masak merah.  I name it Italian ayam masak merah :-)

Ingredients:

• Chicken
• Lemon grass - grinded
• Onion - minced
• Garlic - minced
• Pasta sauce
• cooking oil
• water

Procedure:

1. Fry onion and garlic until fagrance then add chicken.
2. Brown chicken then add pasta sauce and water to simmer until chicken is cooked.

Imagine ayam masak merah with the aroma of Italian herbs.....

Will cook it for dinner tomorrow : )

This question has been in my mind for quite some time.  Silly me, the fact behind is so simple...  I would like to share the explanation with you in the link below:

http://www.yourmortgage.com.au/article/fortnightly-vs-monthly-repayments-78306.aspx

It is very clear and easy to understand. 

Please let me know if it is incorrect.

My neighbour made this fancy nasi kunyit. 

It is different from my hometown nasi kunyit.  Ours is cooked from glutinous rice while this Indonesian nasi kunyit is cooked from white rice. 

It tastes really good.

I find that this soup tastes better than its look :-)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 radish - sliced
• 1 carrot - cut into small cubes
• 5 mushroom - cut into pieces
• 1L chicken stock

Procedure:

1. Boil all ingredients for 1/2 hour then add salt to taste.

Worth trying.

Have been busy with my gardening lately.  This morning, I had a surprise.  They are so colourful....
I didn't grow them on purpose.  They are the 'side benefit' from composting : )



Look at the one in my palm, it is the biggest found in my garden.  I was too curious about the weight.  Just cannot resist myself from taking out the weighing machine.





It is 290g!! 

After giving away tonnes of 雪里红(small Chinese Mustard) to my friends and neighbours, I still have so much of them in my garden.  So, I decided to give it a try to make them into sun dried vegetables. 

Procedure:

1. Clean the vegetables thoroughly.

Veggies after cleaning

2. Blanch them in boiling water.
3. Dry them under the sun.

Veggies after drying for 2 days

4. When they are ready (when the leaves are brittle), store them at dry area.

Tips:

• Remember to collect them at night.
• Pay attention to the weather forecast.  You need at least 4 consecutive fine days (that also depends on the location) to dry them.

According to weather forecast, my next attempt will have to be some time next week.

One thing good about growing winter veggie here is that, it doesn't need watering.  On top of that, with the cold weather, the worms, especially the caterpillars will just make their way out of the garden.  Hurray!!

This year is my first year growing Kai Choy 芥菜 (Chinese mustard), to me as a beginner, I think it is a great success : )

Please come through and have a look at my garden.



This is Kai Choy, the big type



This is small Kai Choy - 雪里红



This year, my coriander is not so good, I suspect it is because I grow at the same spot as last year.



This is cress, we like it with 'Tao Yu Bak' - soy sauce braised pork


Will cut some  雪里红 for  杂菜汤 tomorrow. 

Fresh from garden.  Ha! Ha!

I just found this interesting picture of Stitch, which was taken on 25 April 2011 at the park.

Stitch is our friend, Michael's cute little puppy. He always calls him 'boy'. 

In this picture, Stitch was really exhausted after having a good run in the park.  So he just dozed off....

Try to look closely, do you know what Stitch was sleeping on?



On his wife's jacket!!

Look at my Fuji apple tree.  It is a 2 years old tree.  I think it is way too small for a 2 years old apple tree.  So, I have trimed it down hard this winter.  Hopefully it will grow bigger(more bushy) next year.



They are smaller than the store bought Fuji, but seems that the taste is a bit more intense, probably because they are organic apple?  : -)

Actually I am not sure whether it is really known as XO sauce or not, but I think the name is not important, is the taste that counts.

Ingredients:

• 10 dried scallops soaked in cold water overnight - cleaned and shredded
• 3/4 cup dried shrimps - clean roughly chopped
• 3 onion - minced
• 1 bulb garlic - minced
• 2 chilies - sliced
• soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster and sugar to taste
• olive oil

Note :  Ratio of dried scallop and dried shrimp is about 1:1
Procedure:

1. Fry onion until fagrance, add chili and garlic, continue frying for 1 more minute.
2. Add chopped dried shrimp and shredded scallop and continue frying.
3. Add all the sauces and sugar to suit your taste.
4. Continue frying until it is dry.
5. Cool down and keep in refrigerator (up to ~1 week).

It tastes good with white rice/ bee hoon/ bread... or even on its own.

On 13 May 2011, we woke up at 5:35 am to watch them. Wow, first time in our whole life.....  It is magnificant!!  If we missed it, the next chance will be in 2056!

Attached picture were really blurr, but, I am very reluctant to delete them.

The brightest is Venus(at the bottom), Mercury is on the right. The one on top is Jupiter.  Mars is very near to horizon.  So, it is blocked by trees and buildings.

Below Pictures were taken on 18 May 2011 5:50 - 6:05am.
Can see that Jupiter is further away now.

Wow, it is raining now, finally......

Thinking of my sunny sky pula :-p

My kids' favourite drink at home town is 珍珠奶茶 (pearl tea). 

Once, I went to oriental shop to look for pearls, I found them, but I didn't ended up buying.  They looked like little rocks to me, very very hard!!

I found  this 珍珠 recipe last month on the net.  It is by 周老师.  I decided to give it a try.  Wah, dreams come true!! 


Ingredients:

• 70g brown sugar
• 130g water
• 200g potato starch
• blue colouring (I used dried blue flowers from my 三姨, she calls it 'little blue flower') - this is optional

Procedure:

1. Boil brown sugar and water until sugar dissolved.
2. Pour boiling water onto potato starch. Stir well and start kneading it slightly to make it into a dough.
3. Roll it into about 0.6mm thickness.
4. Cut them into about 0.6mm strips, then to about 0.6mm cubes.

5. You may want to roll it into beads in your palms.  Personally, I don't mind square pearls : )
6. Cook for 3 minutes in boiling water.  Then, rinse 3 times in cold water.

7. They are now ready to add into your favourite dessert or drinks.

Give it a go, pearl lovers!

My Goji berries plants are flowering now.  The purple flowers are very tiny and sweet. 

Frankly, this is my first time to witness goji berries flowers. I simply just have not had imagined, red goji actually started from a purple flower!!

I find it very interesting and would like to share it with you.

To me, there are 3 purposes of growing sweet potato.

• Sweet potato shoots are delicious in stir-fry, especially the purple type, seems to be 'meaty' to me.

• Sweet potato soup is one of our favourite afternoon tea.
• Sweet potato leaves can keep the ground cool during day time.

Have a look at this.  Tell me whether it looks like a duck/flower/pumpkin.... : )