Weekend Away - London Trip

Autumn approaching. Spanning from June to August, it has been a bit of hot breeze in the air this year in England.

To finish off hot summer and in anticipation of autumn and bone-cold winter, hubby has suggested a short weekend away on the final week of August.

One week ago, hubby decided London was it.

This short 3 days 2 nights London break was a simple and fun holiday treat. Thank you very much hubby.

Siaopo had enjoyed the trip to the fullest with three main aims achieved.

1. To watch a musical show
2. To visit London Zoo
3. To visit Madame Tussaud

Best part of the trip was experiencing the musical show. Siaopo failed to do so on the past numerous trips to London over these years.

As a person who was new to this musical universe, Siaopo was totally blown away by the talent of the acrobats, dancers and singers.

The Lion King musical was fabulous, the costumes were amazing and everything was soo great! Siaopo highly recommend this musical.

London Zoo - Hubby's favorite


Hubby and his idol - Tiger Woods @ Madame Tussaud


@ Tower Bridge by the night



The British Museum

Video Game Idiot

Studies has shown that video games can help augment vision and perception.

Regrettably, Siaopo is an absolutely hopeless video game player. Any complex visual challenge on video games are a disaster to her.

After months of under performing in Nitendo Wii to serious extent, she is finally getting answers to her conundrum.

Three reasons.

She has an extremely poor hand eye coordination.
* When the system require her to press A+B, she press Z+B.

She is dumb and has brain-deficiency.
* When the ball goes right, she hit left.

She has a weak muscles.

In Wii, she is the famous loser. She always appear last in the ranking list.

In conclusion, Siaopo is a typical video game IDIOT and beyond help !

Hubby, the all -time winner. His renowned trademark - a big mole under her left chin.

(*click for bigger image*)

Hubby the winner and Siaopo the loser.

Last in the list - hopeless Siaopo. Time 17.59 vs 12.85 (hubby)

Spicy Baked Chicken Wings

Siaopo's temper rears its ugly head today. Siaopo was very annoyed with hubby.

The cause for the blow-up :

Siaopo need to work late today and sent hubby an email before he left office with two reminders.

First, cook the rice. Second, transfer the marinated chicken wings from fridge into the oven.

A flame of anger shot straight up to her head upon her return from work. Hubby did not do it at all !

As usual, hubby gave his dimple smile, winked at Siaopo and with his high-powered three letter word - I am sorry.

Bitting her lip and turning her back on him, she walked in to the kitchen and turned on the oven.

After 40 minutes, hubby gets incredibly excited when he saw the Spicy Baked Chicken Wings served on the table.

Ingredients
10 chicken wings
2 tbsp chili powder
3 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp salt

Method

1. Marinate the chicken wings overnight.
2. Pre-heat oven to 190 degree.
3. Bake chicken wings for 40 minutes.
4. Remove from oven. Garnish with lime wedges.

Ayam Masak Merah

Siaopo was deliriously happy when hubby lavishly praised her delicious Ayam Masak Merah.

Ingredients
1lb Chicken ( cut small)
2 tbsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp onions (chopped)
2 tbsp ginger (grated)
2 tbsp garlic (chopped)
1/2 can chopped tomatoes
4 tbsp sambal olek
2 tbsp chili sauce
4 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
Handful of kaffir lime leaves
1 onion ( sliced ring)

Method

1. Coat chicken with turmeric powder. Set aside for 30 minutes
2. Heat oil in wok.Fry chicken and drain on paper towel.
3. Add 1 tbsp oil in wok. Add chopped onions,ginger,garlic and stir fry.
4. Add in chili sauce,chopped tomatoes, tomato ketchup,dark soy sauce, brown sugar.
5. Continue stir fry for 3 minutes.
6. Add lime leaves and 2 cups of water. Bring to boil.
7. Add chicken and stir well to coat evenly with sauce.
8. Simmer for 10 minutes before adding sliced onions.
9. Serve warm with rice.

Nasi Lemak

Siaopo had the odd outburst on Malay/Indian food in recent days : "I want Nasi Lemak, Murtabak, Roti Canai !"

Fascinated with the thought, Siaopo made Nasi Lemak for dinner.

Hubby's heart too gave a little leap of joy when he saw the Nasi Lemak served on the table for him.

Ingredients
Nasi Lemak
3 cups of rice
400 ml coconut milk
200 ml water
1 tsp salt
1 shallots (chopped)
2 tbsp ginger (grated)

Sambal Ikan Bilis
100g Ikan Bilis ( dried anchovy)
10 dried chili (soak)
3 shallots
1 clove garlic
1 onion ( sliced)
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp belacan
Salt to taste

Method
Nasi Lemak

1. Clean rice and put on rice cooker.
2. Add in shallots and ginger
3. Mix salt into coconut milk. Pour on rice evenly.
4. Cook as normal.

Sambal Ikan bilis

1. Blend dried chili, garlic and shallots together.
2. Heat oil in wok. Add in sliced onions.
3. Stir fry blended mixture.
4. Add belacan, sugar and ikan bilis.
5. Stir well and serve.

Nasi Lemak served with Sambal Ikan Bilis, Fried Ikan Bilis, Boiled Egg, Fried Egg and Cucumber

Spending Quality Couple Time

Long distance couples claim they have no time to talk to each other. Unfortunately, Siaopo find it's the same for couples living under the same roof.

It's a very strange occurrence of both Siaopo and hubby this week.

Both, never been more than 10 metres away from each other every night in a small house, but yet, talking moments are few and far between.

Funnily enough, both have been giving each other the one-ear-in, one-ear-out treatment. Even their favorite mode of communication (conversation in the car) doesn't seem to work this week.

Yes, both definitely stressed out and have been jam packed with work.

So , having spent Saturday morning on their own personal time ( hubby on golf and Siaopo on shopping), the boring couple headed 7 miles north to Plessey Woods Country Park for a two hour stroll in the afternoon.

Two aims.

1. To have a catch up heart-to-heart dialogue.
2. To run away from the horrible weekend routine house cleaning chores. (postponed to Sunday)

As usual, enjoying home-packed tea time break

Spicy Rigatoni Bolognese

Siaopo, with no enthusiasm over cooking this week, spent another 30 minutes on this Spicy Rigatoni Bolognese.

This is another perfect easy daily home cooked meal.

Did Siaopo and hubby enjoy this simple dish?

Siaopo is happy to say Yes !

Ingredients
300g pork mince
2 cups of rigatoni pasta (cooked)
1 tbsp chili flakes
1 bottle of pasta sauce
1 tbsp garlic (chopped)
1 red pepper (sliced)
1 green pepper (sliced)
6 button mushroom (sliced)
Dash of pepper and salt

Marinate
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
Dash of pepper
1 tsp corn flour

Method

1. Marinate pork mince.
2. Heat oil in wok. Stir fry garlic till fragrant.
3. Add in mince and fry for another 3 minutes.
4. Add in mushroom and peppers.
5. Pour in pasta sauce and cook for 5 minutes.
6. Add in chili flakes, salt and pepper.
7. Add in cooked rigatoni. Mix well with sauce.

In no mood for cooking...

Siaopo was completely exhausted by heavy workload in office today. She was in no mood for cooking.

Siaopo wanted to eat out.

Hubby wanted to eat in.

Clearly, this is an occasion when one has to sigh, give up and give in. Siaopo gave in and gotten near the hob.

Spending only 30 minutes on cooking, Siaopo prepared this simple two course meal from basic canned food and simple ingredients.

She tried all possibilities which can be exploited to make the canned food taste and look nicer.

Sardines in Tomato Sauce - with onions, lime juice, chili and spring onions

Stir fry beansprouts - garnished with chili and spring onions

Wat Tan Hor

A taste of home again!

After a few days of mostly simple-based culinary adventures and some frozen fish and chips on occasion, hubby finally got to eat Wat Tan Hor.

Siaopo added too much water and what was supposed to be a thick flavour-some gravy became slightly watery soup.

Hubby, in his usual straightforward food critic fashion remarked "Wat Tan Hor is not soup OK? "

Ingredients
200g fresh hor fun
4 pieces squids(sliced)
1 Fish cake (sliced)
50g chicken (cubed)
10 prawns
3 stalks of Choi Sum
500 ml chicken stocks
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp garlic
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 egg
2 tbsp corn flour

Method

1. Heat wok with oil and fry some garlic till fragrant.
2. Add in hor fun, dark soy sauce, soy sauce. Stir fry till well mixed. Set aside.
3. Heat wok with oil and fry remaining garlic till fragrant.
4. Add chicken, prawn, squid, fish cake. Cook for 1 minute.
5. Add chicken stocks. Bring to boil. Add choi sum.
6. Mix well. Pour in cornflour mixture to form thick gravy.
7. Add sesame oil and beat in egg.
8. Remove heat. Pour gravy over fried hor fun.
9. Serve with chili.

Black Sauce Spice Chicken

Adapted this absolutely awesome Black Sauce Spice Chicken recipe from Waitakere Redneck Kitchen.

An essential part to this black sauce spice chicken is the delicious gravy.

Ingredients
1 whole chicken
3 tbsp dark Soya sauce
3 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
4 cinnamon sticks
8 star Anise
1 tbsp cloves

Method

1. Bring half a pot of water to boil.
2. Add in sugar,soy sauce,dark soy sauce and bring to boil.
3. Add in spices and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Slowly slide in chicken.
5. Scoop the gravy and pour over chicken repeatedly.
6. Cook another 20 minutes. Leave in pot for 10 minutes.
7. Cool chicken down before chopping into small pieces.

Flowers to say..........

Someone's craziness has been driving Siaopo up the wall !

Phew !...Glad that everything is under control now. Ha ha...

Malaysian Sambal Kangkung

Malaysian famous Sambal Kangkung definitely adds a big "kick" to any meal of the day !

Kangkung also known as water convolvulus can be obtained in oriental store in England.

Ingredients
1 packet kangkong
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp dried shrimp
1/2 tbsp belacan
3 red chillies
2 shallots
1 tbsp sugar

Method

1. Soak dried shrimp with hot water. keep the water aside.
2. Blend all ingredients except sugar in a blender.
3. Heat oil in woke and fry paste for 4 minutes till fragrant.
4. Add in Kangkung and stir fry for another 3 minutes.
5. Add some reserved dried shrimp water and sugar.
6. Stir well and serve immediately.

Weekend Day-Out

Siaopo always say, hubby makes a far better decision-maker than her. Siaopo for one would rather have a husband like him, than a wife like her.

Hubby is supremely firm with his decision. He never flies off from decision made ; no changing of plans around which Siaopo is prone to.

Contemplating on the plans TO-DO-SOMETHING-DIFFERENT-WEEKEND, Siaopo had a hard time deciding between Plan A or Plan B comes Friday.

At long last , hubby decided on Plan B for Siaopo.

Plan B was to spend a Saturday day-out in Richmond - 60 miles down south of Newcastle.

Situated on the River Swale in North Yorkshire, Richmond is a historic market town that inspires many tourist.

A perfectly awesome day for both hubby and Siaopo.

A ride on hubby's Proton Ferrari - Got sunroof somemore one OK? Dun play play.

Richmond Indoor Market

Stopping for home-packed lunch...yummy!

Hubby with his new red F1 T-shirt - his first ever new shirt in 2009 !

Penang Hokkien Mee (Prawn Noodle)

After watching Rick Stein's culinary show 'Far Eastern Odyssey' aired last Thursday on BBC , Penang hawker food craving hits Siaopo once again.

Born and bred in Penang, Hokkien Mee has left a very special place in Siaopo's heart.

Ingredients
1 packet of Tean's Gourmet Penang Prawn Noodle paste
1/2 packet of cooked egg spaghetti ( replace yellow noodle)
1 cup of prawn (cooked)
1 piece of chicken thigh (cooked and sliced)
1 cup of beansprouts (cooked)
1/2 cup of water convolvulus (cooked)
1/2 chili (sliced)
1 boiled egg
Handful of dried shallots

Method

1. Mix paste with a pot of water. Bring to boil.
   
2. Place noodle onto a big bowl.
3. Pour hot boiling soup over noodle.
4. Garnish with prawns, chicken, beansprouts, water convolvulus and boiled egg.
5. Sprinkle chili and dried shallots.
6. Serve hot.

Curry Chicken Pot Pie

Siaopo was trying to make something that sounds more complete and filling than the idea of baked vegetable pie or cheese and onion pie.

Curry Chicken Pot Pie sounds perfect for it. Siaopo made her version of curry chicken similar to the chinese take away available in England.

Ingredients
4 chicken thighs (cubed)
1 onion (slice )
1 red pepper (slice)
1 green pepper (slice)
1 yellow pepper (slice)
1 tbsp garlic (chopped)
2 tbsp curry mix sauce powder
2 boiled egg
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Roll puff pastry and cut into rectangular shape dough.
2. Heat oil in wok. Add in garlic,onions and fry till fragrant.
3. Add in chicken and salt. Stir well.
4. Add in curry powder and cook for 5 minutes.
5. Add 1 cup of water , peppers and boiled eggs.
6. Simmer for another 6-8 minutes.
7. Break an egg and stir well.
8. Place mixture in a ceramic casserole dish and place dough on top.
9. Bake in pre-heated oven 190 degree for 40 minutes.
10. Serve hot.

Ching Bu Soup

A good soup to fight againts Swine Flu aka H1N1 Flu .

Well, Siaopo might be barking up the wrong tree here. Rephrase her statement - Tamiflu can help to prevent swine flu and not Ching Bu soup. Ha ha!

Ingredients
1 packet of Ching Bu herbs
1 packet of pork ribs

Method

1. Put all ingredients into a big pot.
2. Simmer for 1 hour. Serve hot.

Chilli, Tomato and Tuna Penne Pasta

Siaopo's Top 10 quick and easy weekday dinner recipe.

Ingredients
1 can tuna
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp garlic (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
3 cups penne (cooked)
Dash of spring onions( chopped)
1 tbsp chilli flakes
Salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat wok with oil. Add garlic, onions and fry till fragrant
2. Add in chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper.
3. Continue to boil over medium heat till sauce reduce.
4. Add in tuna, chilli flakes and stir well.
5. Add in cooked pasta and mix well.
6. Remove and garnish with spring onions.

Hainanese Roast Chicken Dinner

Siaopo and hubby are delighted that the Kongs were able to join us for dinner on Saturday. That makes eating so fun having them around.

Thank you so much for dropping by and joining us for dinner.

Siaopo made Hainanese Roast Chicken rice this time.

Ingredients
1 whole chicken
1 tbsp ginger juice (grated ginger)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp five spice powder
1/2 tsp white pepper

Method

1. In a bowl, combine all ingredients.
2. Rub mixture over chicken.
3. Set aside for 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 220 degree celcius.
5. Roast chicken for 20 minutes.
6. Reduce heat to 170 degree and roast for next 30-40 minutes.
7. Remove chicken and set aside for while before cutting into pieces.
8. Garnish with cucumber and coriander.

Chicken rice and chili sauce recipe similar to the old post.

Uncle Pang has set the flash too long - Kristie got a bit impatient with the long wait. Ha ha..

Nintendo Wii games are positively made for adults and not kids ! Something that adults will reach enlightenment with.

Wii is definitely designed to keep this two old man look young !!! Ha ha..