Pergedel!!!

one thing i really miss about living with people…

communal cooking!

housemate started cooking (officially~) at 6pm…we joined in later and only finally sat down to dinner at 10pm++ LOL…high complexity cooking going on in a kitchen with limited cooking space & ware (ahya, we were also partially lazy because more plates used = more plates to wash later~! )

photo spam now…

mixing the ingredients into the potato mash~

forming small potato patties

and playing with shapes too…my ‘pyramid’ shaped one didn’t do too well in the frying process (T-T)

separating the yolk from the white to use as a coating…

frying her specially shaped pergedel ^-^

cute right? right right?

our full time fryer mummy! (^_____^)

she even washed up lar! feeling a wee bit bad now for playing with the cam as she did that~

i saved my own skin by slicing the chilli padi so finely…lol, taking a bit out of that omelette wasn’t as spicy with the chilli slices so thin (^-^)b

the veggie dish we all needed! i’m absolutely loving fried shallots now~

this was the after dinner treat~ barley water with really thin tofu strips (called fu zhu?) and a little rock sugar…i feel healthier already~

jo was very much a happy camper…i mean~ just LOOK at the food! hahaha…

anyhow~ we also had a really nice sweet chinese soup too. i think ivonne and alya are a bit surprised i don’t and haven’t drunk soups like that regularly…healthy is one thing lar, but the components and all kinda scared me…however…not anymore!

hehehe, i’m learning more about food from my own culture while overseas~ cool right?

 

tired now m(_ _)m

so! as everyone on facebook and here in liverpool already knows~ i’ve been whipping up TONS of semi-edible goodies!

Here’s the one i’m most proud of. xD

Bread!

and it’s looking like proper bread this time~! i’ve tried a ga-zillion recipes before, but this one is the first to turn out like proper store bought bread (except it also comes with the nice bakery smell that fills your kitchen so i’m doubly excited about doing this again)

the picture in the previous post was one of my housemates waking up at noon and asking if i baked (she could smell it from her room! LOL )

so yeah, bread was one of the things…and just the night before i had made 3 mini batches of milk jam (to go with the bread i was already planning to make (^______^)v )

first up is matcha milk jam~

this one turned out the best flavour wise…i’m definitely gonna be making more of this soon!

Second best was an Earl Grey infused milk jam~ i don’t like earl grey as a tea, but in muffins (and jams apparently) it’s awesome!

this last one…lol…dear god, no more & never again! it’s milo & cinnamon flavoured! hahahahahaha!

it’s just….it just tastes like milo powder + cinnamon stirred into ALOT of condensed milk…not pleasant on toast at all! (^-^);;;

still, i had fun this week with the baking~

this morning…after being awoken by the phone at what was to me an ungodly hour in the morning (9am, but in my defense, i had only gone to bed at 7am xP ), i could not get back to bed and decided to make breakfast…pizza dough for a somewhat mini margherita pizza. the recipe doesn’t require the 2 hours fermentation so it’s perfect for hungry couch potato me…xD

and, because i was half asleep and dragging my blanket around the kitchen, i made a huge mess of it and thus…the lack of photos! (^-^);> i mean, it wasn’t too bad looking (kinda like exhibit A below..haha) but in my daze, i had FORGOTTEN TO SEASON the dough! hahahahaha…i did this only above the melted mozzarella & olive oil dressing so…it was abit…strange? (^-^);>

i’ll have another go soon i suppose~!

…

Exhibit A

:: My very first attempt at pizza making ::

 

green is good (^-^)b

can’t buy it outside, so…

i decided to make matcha ice cream…

(^_^)b

 

the strange and the orangey…

second visit to rasa malaysia~

this time, the food was still amazing (and for better prices save the fish which blew a HUGE hole in my pocket) but, the service was a bit strange.

It was the same pair of waiters, but i think it might have been because i went without my other friend (a regular there) so…we had ordered soya milk but only received half a glass each time! i don’t understand. but, other then that, i think it was fine…

anyway! today, i had a veryyyyy extravagant breakfast

grand marnier french toast with a dollop of vanilla ice cream and maple syrup on the side.

yummy subtle orange flavours~~~ just look at the steamy action (haha! cheap thrill, i know)

this was followed soon after by lunch…provencal tomatoes with toast.

not too pretty this time, but it’s simple and relatively quick~ \(‘-^)

 

a.maize-ing!

 

haven’t had proper jagong in a long time~ (^-^);> so i bought some to grill in an unmentionable amount of butter and mnnnnnn…nami-nami goodness~! in the process of buying this amazing veggie though, i think i brought little bugs into the house *weeps* near where i had kept the maize, i found 3 itty bitty weevil like bugs! (T-T)

haix, what to do~? *squishes bugs*

 

 

anyhoo, there was yet another radio event down in town at L1 today~ (^_^) tons of activities around here lately…there was also a free arts demonstration along bold street! but, the main reason i was in town today was to buy a new toy!!! 

\(^-^)/ ~tada~ \(^-^)/

hahaha, yeah, i’m probably the most boring person in the world…BUT i’m absolutely loving the new grater! it’s just a tad too efficient and almost took the tips off of my left index and middle fingers ^-^;

 

everyman & the broken toaster~

Lunching at Everyman’s bistro~

it has been awhile since i was last there…and all i settled for was pizza…

BUT!

the pizza was good~! mushroom, garlic and goat cheese (^____^)b yummy! the slice was reasonably sized and PACKED with goat’s cheese~! the other dish is what we now know was VERY EXPENSIVE economy rice…it’s a chicken oyster-sauce stir fry that cost £8-something!

yesh….definitely the most expensive economy rice i’ve come across (=_=);

then, the moment i was waiting for….DESSERT!

tada~~~ \(^-^)/

a peach frangipane ‘tart’ (well, it’s in a ramekin so there’s no crust of course…) instead, it came with biscuit fingers~

 

the peach was soooooo sweet that i forgot i absolutely DESPISE peach. xD to be honest, i didn’t know what the dessert was because i just picked out the best looking one at the counter (^-^);> the custard beneath the peach was really nice too~! (^-^)b really light and creamy. i just found myself eating it with my eyes closed because i have this -thing- with custard. i think it might be the colour that gets me feeling puke-y because it reminds me of butter! 

anyhoo~ back to the bistro…

pretty, no? 

we usually sit at the sofa over in the back though (^___^)

…

eventually, when i got home around dinner time, i was faced with the broken toaster & my bagel. 

toaster….bagel…BROKEN toaster! (T____T) *weeps* 

so~ i heated a pan and just lightly toasted it there. burnt it a little but it works…hahaha…

 

attempting the messy~

have been baking again alot recently~ this time’s the red bean bun which i’ve dyed green with matcha powder~ (^____^)v

this time, because i wanted a less sickingly sweet red bean filling (the one option i have available here), i made it from scratch with the proper beans this time! lol, we had a bad episode of that last winter with a crunchy bean! 

SO! \(^-^)/

soaked overnight, simmered with sugar and salt in tons of water until it’s a paste. it was all good and well until it started to thicken considerably and spattered all over the place which resulted in me using the lid as a shield like so…. 

yesh, tons of cleaning to get done after this. but…into the buns these go before it goes into the oven and~~~

done~!

i made some smaller, matcha-free ones (20g of dough instead of the averaged sized 40g) too~ 

ok, thats enough mucking around for me today…(^-^);>

 

busy busy~

the living room everyone wants. 

ahhhh~ we can dream can’t we?

anyhoo, andy volunteered to drive us to ikea yesterday (^-^)b for lightbulbs (which we didn’t find) and jam (which we did)! we ended up with a toilet seat as well…lol!

it was a good day…haix, but there’s always trouble in paradise lar…pissing sia…would be telling the biggest lie if i said i wasn’t. honestly lar…GRRRR! OK, FORGET ABOUT IT…

opz…capslock abuse (^-^);

so, it was apparently a very eventful night, but i missed it because i was napping. good thing i did to a certain extent because i would have been even more pissed. but long story…not worth elaborating because recounting it will only make my hair grow whiter. 

nonetheless, we still made a trip down to the fish market at the crack of dawn in old swan to well… get some fish.

my baby!!!!!!

i’m absolutely in love~ i think it’s wild salmon leh. (^-^); bad simmie…BUT IT’S AMAZING!

none of that tesco crap (and it’s even cheaper! just inconvenient to get to) 2.5~kg of unadulterated omega 3 fats…its absolutely beautiful and is marbled! come on~ what supermarket salmon is marbled? only chore was scaling it~

first thing i did was pan fry the salmon on it’s own…it didn’t need anything! so i volunteered to do dinner (^-^);

 

Rice (which i timed wrongly and was a bittttt soggy)

a kilo of teriyaki salmon

kinshi tamago

blanched spinach with dashi and soy sauce, topped with bonito flakes

(white) miso soup with fish cake

 

everything was ok, except for the rice which was a disaster! xD sorry lar, jen was supposed to help, but the poor girl had to do something she hasn’t done in awhile….SLEEP! 

oh oh oh oh! Jen made carrot cake (at midnight?) !!!!! it’s mind blowingly amazing! it’s been more then a year since she made it lar! (^-^)b it was gone too fast for me to get a picture of it…but, hell, i’m going to pester her to make more soon.

and one more update~~~

i’ve chopped off the hair! (^________^) been waiting FOREVER to do this…it was a well spent 30quid…it’s a lopsided bob-ish cut that the housemates are comparing to victoria beckham…m(_ _)m the hell. 

shoo! i love challenging hair stylists~ with my strange egg-shaped head and thick THICK hair…xD the previous one in singapore had shaved a whole row of my hair away to make it thin and natural looking. (^-^); this time, the lady was so apologetic (like she was doing it for my own good), but i had told her it was ok~

anyhoo, off to do work…i’m never going to get stuff done on time! *panics*

 

Nami-Nami Bear shaped Pancakes!

 

 I’m craving Karelian pies though