Thursday, January 31, 2008

Noodles and Ioyces

The kids made it back to preschool today, and I finally catch a glimpse of my regular routine back. Although I am far from baking CNY bakes at the moment as there's a lot of chores to catch up before that. Made char-siew and prawn noodles using the skinny noodles typically used for wanton noodles for lunch.This bring back memories of a really delicious meeting with Ioyces in Singapore on our first meeting when she brought me to her parents wonderful wonton noodle stall and treated me to a mega-loaded wonton mee dish filled with fragrant braised shitake mushrooms, sumptious two kinds of wontons that were fried and cooked in broth, shredded white chicken, tasty chicken feet (yeah, I tried my first one in a very long time), crunchy fresh veggies that were cooked perfect, and some wonderful conversations amidst my kids calling for mommy. I just loved that wonton noodle stall at Bukit Batok. It's called Eng Kee Noodle House.She also came by regularly to spend time with us, and I'm truly honored to have found a wonderful blogger friend who brought me donuts, korean dvds and helped me find my first thermal pot. She even brought me her mom's wonderful chili sauce which exploded on the plane on the way back. LOL! And not forgetting that she even brought me over to see my idol and mentor, Aunty Yochana! Yes, I was a happy kid that day!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Working on it....

I am still jet-lagged after a week of being home, but am enjoying my own kitchen and making the old, regular stand-by meals of stews and soups to warm up the windy days and chilly nights and then heading to bed around 5 pm with the kids. And being away for awhile, I'm gradually getting back to my regular momentum. Yeah, right. Also with Chinese New Year and Valentine's around the corner, I'm trying to convince myself that I should be busy spring cleaning. Oh, yeah, and my fishes had babies again.... That's my excuse for not blogging this week. Maybe I'll come up with better ones next week.... Or maybe I'll just sit myself down long enough to blog again. Soon, I hope?

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Back to Winter and Half Boiled Eggs

I finally arrived back to a freezing 22 degrees Fahrenheit (-6 degrees Celsius without the wind chill factor) of cold, blowing snow and fierce, biting winds late last evening, and am glad to be back in the comforts of my own little paradise I called home. And after getting the kids cleaned, put to their own little beds and the pets fed, I was too exhausted from flying halfway across the world and jet-lagged to explore the house til early this morning.

The kids awoke at 6 am and we headed to the kitchen for breakfast. The kids wanted cereal and toast, while I was craving for a half-boiled egg.

The trick to half-boiled eggs is the desired consistency and it's all in personal preference. The eggs should be at room temperature, and I find that local organic eggs turn out better for me. Maybe it's the shorter shelf life at the store? Anyway, to achieve half-boil eggs, simply bring a small/medium pot of water to a full, rolling boil. Pour over the two eggs, cover and leave it for 3-5 mins for the standard half boil egg. I prefer mine more to the 5 min. mark. In Penang and Singapore, my friends like theirs with white ground pepper and dark soy sauce. I simply chuck mine down like a shot followed by strong, hot coffee.

It was during that breakfast that I noticed that the Christmas tree was still in the family room, and am glad that Hubs left it there for us to enjoy. There were still presents under the tree! They quickly opened the ones from Dani. Thanks sweetie! She got her dad the Planet Earth DVD and a family name book. And the kids received the dress up accessories from Disney's Snow White and the Princess. I got to take pictures of them and was just happy to see them with their presents.Soon we will be heading out into the wonderful white winter landscape to investigate the groceries stores and asian markets and once again fill my refrigerator and pantry with glorious food. Will be blogging about food again soon...

Yes, it's good to be back!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Leaving the Equator


After spending a wonderful time in a location just 1 degree north of the equator, I'm ready to head back to winter. Had a great time visiting and eating (almost) everything in sight, especially all the new restaurants and old hawker centers of yesteryear. One thing for sure is that I'll be blogging about all those wonderful people I met on this trip. But for the next 24 hours, I'll be boarding 3 different planes and can't wait to get back to my own pillow-top bed. Yes! I'm heading for home...