Rice Soup Noodle with Prawn, Veggie and Poached Egg

Everyone out of there knows that I love soup noodle! Well, I reckon Alex probably knows this the best as we have lunch together every day. The first thing and the only thing I have for my lunch will be soup noodle. :)
Boiled the water. Cooked the rice noodle in it till it was just cooked. Quick rinsed it under the cold water. This would stop rice noodle from being too sticky.
Cooked prawn and veggie in seafood stock and poured it over the rice noodle. Sprayed finely chopping spring onion. Served with a poached egg while it was still warm.

Man's Brunch

I call this a man's brunch. Why? Heaps of fat!!
Fried bacon, sweet juicy corn, peas, and scrambled eggs. Not quite healthy. But it provided me enough energy to spend whole day doing nothing but shopping in the city today!
Okay, I am a shopaholic. A very hopeless one.
But who can say no to the nice dresses, especially the two I bought today. :P

Scotch Fillet with Asparagus and Snow Pea

Richie came over for dinner tonight! So I made steak. :)
Well, I have to admit I am really not good at cooking anything else but seafood and I have never cooked steak before. This steak was a big challenging indeed!
I marinated the scotch fillet in crushed garlic, finely chopped chilli and coriander, a good pitch of salt and pepper for about an hour and a half. Then poped it into the oven for 12 mins with foil covered on the top followed by another 7 mins without foil. Meanwhile, I put asparagus and snow pea in the boiled the water till they were just cooked.
Served with mashed potato on the side while they were warm.

Saturday Dinner at Nelson Bay: Steamed Whiting Fillet with Ginger

My favourite fish dish so far! :)
Was planning to make steamed snapper fillet but you know what, there was no seafood section in the Coles we found in Nelson Bay?!! So I had to get a bag of frozen whiting fillet instead. Well, it's not too bad I reckon.
Very simple ingredents: whiting fillet, ginger, beer, soy sauce and coriander.
I baked the whiting fillet in soy sauce and beer which just half cover the fillet and julienned ginger for 35 mins. With the foil covered the top coz I didn't want to burn the fillet and make it too dry.
Sprayed sesame seeds and finely chopping coriander on the top when it was served.

Saturday Dinner at Nelson Bay: Szechuan Chicken

As Richard requested, I made this spicy Chinese dish especially.

I marinated sliced chicken in finely chopped garlic, chilli, soy sauce and olive oil for half of the day.

When the dinner time was closed, I heated the oil and fried the marinated chicken. Sprayed finely chopped coriander on the top when it was served.

Bonus: Weekend away at Nelson Bay

Let me put on some pictures of breakfasts first.

Nothing special. Just scrambled eggs and fried bacon.
Holly and Richard asked me how I made eggs so fluffy without butter and milk. Well, my secret ingredent is H2O! Yes, just add a little bit water when you scramble eggs. I assure you it will surprise you. :)

Anyway, it was a really great weekend!

Marinara Mix in Banked Mushroom

Just can't say no to mushrooms coz they are so tasty! This dish is an absolute food feast for mushroom lovers like me. :)

I got shiitake mushroom, white mushroom, swiss mushroom, truffle mushroom, bottom mushroom, maitaki mushroom and black Chinese mushroom. Gave them a good wash and sliced them. Boiled seafood stock then dropped in the sliced mushrooms, brought them to boil and turned off the heat. Poured them in a big tray.

I maranited the marinara mix and a extra portion of baby octopus in the finely chopped chilli, crushed garlic, salt and pepper one night ahead. It was time to bring them out. Evenly spread the marinara mix in the tray. Mixed the mushrooms and marinara mix well. Baked it for 30 mins in moderate heat.

Sprayed finely chopped spring onion and coriander on the top when it was served.

Pepperoni Salad

As requested, the pepperoni salad came back.

Nothing fancy or complicated, grabbed a bag of Italian salad leaf from Coles and pepperoni. Chopped the pepperoni. Mixed it with salad. Added a little bit extra virgin olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper.

Spaghettini with Peas and Lemon

I personally prefer spaghettini than spaghetti. :)

Okay, I cooked pasta and lemon rind in a very large saucepan of salted water till pasta was just ready(7mins golden rule). Drined it well.

Then I heated olive oil in a large frying pan, adding onion, garlic and chilli after 3 mins. Let them be set for anothre 2 mins. I added peas, dry white wine and just a little bit water. Waited till the pea just became tender. Added pasta with lemon juice. Gave them a good mix. Tossed through herbs and served with Parmigiano-Reggiano and of course, lemon wedge.

Prawn Cocktail

"Call them tapas. Call them mezze. Call them snacks. The beauty of these small dishes is their versatility. They're as much your friend when you're entertaining as when you're dining à deux."
This is a 15 mins prep entrée.
For cocktail sauce, I mixed honey musturd, Tabasco, finely chopped mint leaves and coriander leaves, extra-virgin olive oil, dry white wine, white wine vinegar and egg yolks.
Then I left prawn in boiled water for about 5 mins till them were just cooked.
For presentation, I arranged baby Mediterranean salad leaves and sliced avocado in glass, then divided prawns between glasses, dizzed over cocktail sauce.
Could anything be simpler than this? I highly doubt. :)

Baby Octopus with Herb Dressing

It was a last minute dish. I was planning to make grilled scallops in shells. By the time I stepped in Coles after work, did I realize that there was no scallops in shell in Coles and all the seafood store would be probably closed (It was 6.20pm!).
I got this very lovely marinated baby octopus in Coles. I mixed it with egg white, dry white wine, lemon juice and finely chopped chill, coriander leaves and garlic. Fried it in olive oil on high heat till it was just cooked (you don't want to over-cook it). Dizzed over finely chopped mint leaves, coriander leaves and parsley leaves. Served with lime wedge for tasting.

Dirty Mojito

I finally got enough mint leaves tonight! And it was really good! And drinks make me happy. :)
I wish I had nice highball glass. :(

Prawn Salad with Herb Dressing

Another simple dish.
First thing first, finely chopped parsley, mint leaves, coriander leaves, basil leaves and spring onion. Mixed them with a good amount of olive oil and the juice of one whole lemon.
Cooked prawn in boiling water till it was just cooked. Place asparagus and snow peas in a single layer on a large frying pan. Dizzled a fair bit olive oil and salt. Turned occasionally till they were just cooked through.
Placed the prawn salad on a flat plate. Dizzed over herb dressing. Served with a lemon wedge, salt and pepper for tasting.
I should have done a better job with chopping the herb leaves I reckon... It would look much nicer.

Tuna Tartine

Well, if I could have niçoise olives, this tartine would be even better I reckon!
The tricky part of making this tartine was preparing the aïoli. I finely chopped the garlic, heated it in extra-virgin olive oil till the garlic just turned soft (make sure you don't burn the garlic). Poured it into a big bowl, added an egg yolk, mixed well. Then added canned tuna, finely chopped mint leaves, basil leaves, coriander leaves and spring onion, the juice of half of lemon. Mixed them very well.
When it came to the layering, make sure you put a thin layer of salad leaves in the bottom coz you don't want the bread to be soggy. Then I spreaded a good amount of tuna salad I prepared earlier, then sliced boiled eggs and cherry tomato.
If you don't want to get your hand dirty or too messy, put a piece of toast on the top, that's what I did. But I can assure you, it tastes better without the top! So get it in with your hands!

Long Island Dirty Mojito?

Okay. It's not a real mojito. And it's not a real Long Island iced tea, either. But it did taste like a mixture of both I reckon.
Nick bought me a bottle of Captain Morgan, the spiced rum on Saturday. He wanted to train me up. Appearantly, he was quite amused at me being such a cheap drinker after seeing me getting drunk three times. Geeze, God knows what I did!!!
So, I had a craving for a mojito for ages since no one wants to take me to the bar (Note: Clara can't go to the bar unattended). And I had some extra mint leaves, together with heaps of lime and lemon I bought on Saturday. So here comes my Long Island Dirty Mojito: spiced rum, ice, mint leaves juice, lemonade, lime juice, lemon juice, lemon wedge, lime wedge, caster sugar. I wish I could have more mint leaves, vodka and tequila to make it more decent. Or at least a highball glass to make it look nicer (P.S. any nice glass, plate or bowl is welcome if you want to buy me presents to show your supportive to my blog).
Alright, enjoy!
Clara feels a fair bit dizzy now...

Prawn, Herbs and Thai Rice Noodle

I think Thai dishes are hard to make. But surely not this one.
Yes, like most of the Thai dishes, this one has quite a few ingredents. But once you have everything ready. It's that simple to make, but as good at it could ever get!
Boiled the water and left the Thai rice noodle until it just cooked. Normally, it takes up to 4 mins. Drained it well and let it cool down a little bit.
Mixed coconut milk, palm sugar, lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, finely chopped chilli, basil stem and coriander stem in a large frying pan. While the palm sugar just started to melt, I added the prawns. Let it cooked for 7 mins. Turned off the heat. Added the Thai rice noodle. Mixed them well. Spread chopped cucumber, coriander leaves, basil leaves and spring onion. Served with lime wedge.
It's a very refreshing dish. Perfect for summer!

Niçoise Salad

Anne once said salad should always be simple. The simpler the better. I totally agree. Alright, here comes my niçoise salad.
Sliced tuna stake. Layered them on a big frying pan, covered with extra light oliver oil. Seasoned with finely chopped chilli and onion. Left them on medium heat for about 5 mins. Boiled eggs then cut them in quarters. I didn't have potato or green beans or black olives at home. I reckon this salad would be better with half boiled potatoes and steamed green beans and of course, olives. Cut cherry tomatoes in quarters. Mixed fried tuna steak and onion together with chilli oil, canned tuna, cherry tomatoes, eggs, Italian salad leaves ( you can get the package from Coles) and some chopped cucumbers. A bit grounded black pepper on the top. And of course, the juice of half lemon.
Who said a great meal has to be fancy? Simple is the best!

---- The words below has nothing to do with food, just some random thoughts I have at the moment, also requested by Angie for me showing more love to her ----

Had to catch bus home by myself tonight. The bus driver was a very cute Aussie boy. I noticed the girl sat behind the bus driver seat gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before she jumped off the bus and said "don't worry about me. I will be fine." He closed door after seeing her walking away from the bus stop.I figure they are lovers. It put a smile on my face seeing this. How sweet it was! I find true love is subtle but sweet. Kissing on the cheek. Holding hands. Smiling to each other. Whispering in the ears. Leaning on the shoulder... Those small things make love even sweeter than baklava (sorry, I got so addicted to baklava recently:P)!

OMG! I cut my finger!

In order to make this, you have to cut one of your fingers. I cut my left index finger.
Okay, it was an accident. I am not good at cutting onion. So by the time I realized what just happened , my left hand was soaking in blood and half of my index finger was missing! :( Then I started to panic. I was literally blursted into tears and cried out so loud that my old housemate Michael who lived two and half block away heard me! Thank God, he heard me and saved my life otherwise I would probably be dead due to lack of blood! Seriously!!! And Thank God that I don't need stitchers!!!
Alright, here comes the recipe for this bloody aglio e olio. I am glad it was good otherwise my tears my blood would totally be worthless.
Finely chopped garlic, onion and chilli. Fried them in the extra virgin oliver oil till they were just heat up enough not burned yet. Added chopped pancetta. Fried in low heat for 3 mins then added cherry tomatos which have been chopped in halves. Fried for another 5 mins. Don't drain the spaghetti too thoroughly. Leave just a bit pasta cooking water and pour it into frying pan with spaghetti. Added rocket leaves. Turned off the heat. Stirred it well for 2 mins. Seasoned groud pepper and sea salt. Served with parmigiano pieces on the top.
Clara's aglio olio. Buon appetito!

It was after I finally finished my aglio e olio, I realised that I need a boyfriend who can actually take care of me when I am scared. And I was terrified today. It has been an awfully long day... for most of us. Alrighty, let it rain and wash the mess away!

Food Feast: Venison Pie, Dory Fillet and the Best Dessert Ever!!!

Sorry, I got a little bit too excited when I typed down the title of this blog because the food was just purely amazing!
Thanks to the lovely Anne and Bill who kindly invited us over on Sunday for dinner and I finally got a good night sleep after struggeling with the hottest night ever in my life time on Saturday! The dinner was abosolutely awesome!
Anne made the best Venison Pie ever! Well, it's the first time I had Venison Pie actually if the small bite I had in Wine Blending on my 21st bday didn't count.

Bill bought me this Dory fillet in case I didn't eat deer. Man, the grilled Dory fillet was so yum!!!

The dessert was absolutely legendary! Anna made this melon dessert with watermelon, pinaapple, mint leaves, lime juice, lemom juice, lemon zest and a dash of rum (Please correct me if I am missing any ingredent here, Anne! xxx). There was just the right amount of sour and sweet flavour with a bit of an alchoholic kick! You will never forget it!

I picked up a bottle of Wirra Wirra 'Church Block Cabernet' Shiraz Merlot 2008 on my way to dinner which was noted as one of the 10 best-value Reds according to Money magazine. It's actually really good. Worth a try if you are a Red fan.

Alright, enjoy the hot summer! Stay cool! xxx

Rosé Champagne and Grapes

Was being lazy last night. Planned to go to the Domain Stage to see Al Green but called it off in the last minute as I spent the whole afternoon,from 1pm to 7pm, 6 hours literally, in the Broadway Shopping Mall. Did nothing but shopping! And all what I bought was just two tops from FCUK which I could actually got on my way home everyday! I had no idea why I took the trouble to come all the way to Broadway just buying the tops which I didn't even like that much. Anyways, got a cab home with 11 bags of grocerry and two bottles of wine. I spent 150 bucks in one week grocerry again! And I didn't even make myself lunchbox and I will be dining out for two nights at least in this coming week. Okay, so I told myself, there is no way I could make this Al Green thing tonight and I really need some wine!

So, green grape, red grape, black grape, a little bit cantaloupe, with my Rosé Champagne. Came out just as good as it gets.

Fish Pie

Got the idea from JamieOliver's Fish Pie. But I changed a lot of ingredients.
This is not a traditional fish pie. No pastry. No deep fried. And it dosen't look that tempting when it's served. But after a mouth full, I bet you would love it! Well, I am a big seafood fan. So I love everything with fish!
Bought whiting fillet, atlantic salmon, ocean trout and peeled prawn. Marinated them in the beurre blanc source together with just a little bit dry white wine.
Boiled the water, chopped up a couple potatos. When they were soft enough, drained the water. Added two teaspoons of butter, a pitch of salt and pepper, and just a little bit grounded nutmeg. Give them a very good mashed. Leave it for now.
Chopping is just not fun. The good part of this fish pie you don't really need to chop anything. Simply grated the celery sticks, carrot and chilli in the box grator which not only made the preparation so much easier but also saved the cooking time! Grabbed a bunch of coriandor and basil, finely chopped the stems and roughly chopped the leaves.
Added a good pintch of salt, pepper, the juice of half a lemon, extra virgin oliver oil. Then roll up the sleeves, get your hands in! After mixing everything: veggie, fish, seasonings, evenly spreaded grated parmesan, then a layor of mashed potato. Pop it in the oven for 45 mins! Here comes the Fish Pie! Hope you will like it! xxx

Crystal Light?! Roxette!? Al Green!!

Okay. I've gotta put on some pictures first. Take a guess what it is.

Right. It's mixed of half tablespoon of ketchup, two teaspoons of sugar and heaps water, together with two shots of vodka.

LOL.

I am just joking. It's a kind of soft drink called Pink Lemonade which I bought from the States. Yes, we LOVE artificial color and artificial flavour! Especially heaps of sugar in our drinks! Well, this pink lemonade comes in small sachet with bright pink color saying it could make two quarts drink on the cover. So as you can see, I've got a huge bottle of pink lemonade now. Man, it's so sweet which actually upset my tummy a fair bit after the couple sips... I couldn't believe I used to drink it everyday when I was in the uni o.O

Okay. It's just a very short story of my after dinner drink. Was planning to grab a drink then dinner. Then it got cancelled in the last minute (Yes, I am still upset! Ughhhhh...). Came home with two sushi bento boxes. I ended up finished both... Nick once joked saying that I should just move to Asia since I love Asian food that much: Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese... Well, I love American food as well. It's junky, oily and definitly unhealthy, but I love it. Oh yeah, and French food, Italian food... Hmm... Pasta... Yum!!!

Alright, I'd better stop this nonsense now.

For some reason, I have this Roxette song in my head for almost three weeks! ''She's got the look. She's got the look. What in the world can make a brown-eyed girl turn blue. When everything I'll ever do I'll do for you!"... Together with Al Green's "Let's, let's stay together. Lovin' you whether, whether. Times are good or bad, happy or sad"... Man, I must have been born in the wrong era!

Alrighty, just so glad it's Friday finally! Will be at the Domain Stage seeing Al Green tomorrow night! xxx

My Virgin Risotto

Okay. This is the first risotto I've ever made! So no harsh comment, please. :)
Sitting on the bus home, struggling with dinner again. Hmm... let me see, I've got arborio rice. I've got a box of uncooked shrimp which has been sitting in the freezer for almost a month. I've got some cherry tomato, fresh coriander, onion, and yes, frozen peas. So I was like, hmm, maybe I should try to make risotto aye? To be honest, I had no idea how to do it. So I figured maybe I should just fry the onion, garlic and coriander stem first to flavour the oliver oil. In the meantime, as I didn't have seafood stock at home, I had to take the best advantage of the 'useless' shrimp head and shell as a good source of seafood stock. I boiled them in the water together with a good pinch of salt. When the onion just turned soft, added stock and rice. I had no idea how much stock I should use. So I tried 2 cups of stock: 1 cup of rice and lucky me, it turned out to be just enough. (*Note: Of course I was constantly stiring the rice during the whole process otherwise they would be all sticking together. And it took me a while to make sure the rice and stock had the just right consistency. Thanks you to Francis for reminding me to mention this. ) When the rice was almost cooked, I threw the shrimp and peas in. Let it steam for 5 minutes. I added the rest chopped onion, cherry tomato and coriander leaves. Served with lemon.

I was asked quite a few times where I got all these recipes since I opened this blog. Well, there is no recipe actually. Seriously. When it comes to cooking, all what I can think about is just how to use whatever I've got at home. I always bought way too much stuff when I did grocery shopping. So you know, I am struggling with not wasting food all the time. And as a big time food lover who happens to have very good memory, I reckon my taste buds know what they like better than me.

FYI:No blog tomorrow as I am dining out! Don't miss me too much! With Love, Boo xoxoxox

Oh, avocadoooo...

Got home really late tonight. Thought about grabbing some fried rice from Bar Asia but it was already closed when I got there. Surprisingly found one avocado and a fair bit honey leg ham in in the fridge. So toasted two piece of bread. Added a little bit honey musturd. It became my dinner. Well, was more like late night snack. The avocado was so good which made the whole sandwich quite tasty. I am just wondering if there is a such thing called avocado spread. Then I don't need to take the trouble to cut the avocado everytime although it wasn't that hard. But you know, Clara can be quite lazy sometime. I kinda miss the time when mom made me dinner and waiting for me to have it with her after I came home from work. It's not only because of the world-class food she made, but also knowing someone would be waiting for me at home for dinner made me feel so good about myself after a hard day at work. It was my first month I worked in CBA. Then I moved out. I miss spending time with mom. Alright, time to head the bed. Nighty-night.

Coconut? Egg?

I had this recipe in my head for a while. As a big fan of both coconut and egg, I have been endevouring to come up with a recipe to put my favorite two things together. Green curry, as the best mild spice, gave this dish just the right favour. I couldn't find Thai herb. So instead, I used spring onion and quite a lot coriandor. Again, was a quite simple dish. Not a lot of ingredents (butter, onion, boiled eggs, coconut cream, thickened cream, spring onion, coriander, just a little bit lemon juice, chill flake and of course, green curry paste!) Tasted unbelievably YUMMMM! ทาน ให้ อร่อย นะ! ( Bon Appétit in Thai if my resource was right. :P )

Chicken tonight?

So I found this marinated chicken which has been lying in the fridge for couple days, I figured it should be good to go. Stir fried then served with fresh spring onion and coriander, of course, steamed jasmine rice as well. Turned out to be a big bomb!

Simple is the Best!

Went to the market in Rocks this morning. Didn't buy anything except a bottle of Lipton Green Tea but it was fun. I found this very cute bookstore called Ariel Bookshop on George St in the Rocks which has a surprising variety of interesting books. When we came home, was fairly late. Found a bag of 4-leaf salad and a box of cherry tomato. Chopped up 6 slices of honey leg ham. Added a good pitch of salt and half handful of pine seed. Just a little bit lemon juice and enough extra virgin oliver oil. Together with four boiled eggs, each sliced up in quarters. Turned out to be a happy meal!

Chocolate chips!

It was two week before Christmas. I got a tin of Danish cookies from my sweet workmate Angie as a Christmas present. I couldn't resist the temptation. So you know, all the cookies were gone on that night... And I woke up with this huge smile on my face on the next morning which encouraged me to attempt making some goodies for the lovely workmates in my office. Thanks to Anne and Bill who generously offerred me the access to their awesome kitchen! So I went there, after browsering through thousands of cookie recipe, still couldn't make up my mind. So Anne was like how about chocolate chips? Everyone love chocolate chips! I loved the idea. So I got all the ingredents: butter, brown sugar, vanilla, egg, self-raising flour, chocolate bites and walnuts. Pre heat the oven. Mixed the ingredents. Folded the flour, chocolate bites and walnuts. All set to go. An hour and a half later, 12 trays of cookies were all set to be packed. I got wrapping paper, nice ribbon and small gift cards.

Voilà! Clara's chocolate chips! Bon Appétit!