Happy Birthday Dad!

When I came across this card design on Etsy, I seeked my sis' opinion and purchased it right away. This card managed to describe my dad best since he is working in the fashion industry. His obsession with fancy clothings, jeans, bags and shoes and his awesome attention to details has undoubtedly made fashion industry the right field of job for him. Of course there are many more things that he would love to try doing... if only he has the time to. And having been working to support his family ever since he was 12, he probably didn't have any options to explore his interests at all. I hope that one day i would be able to shoulder some of his burdens, so that he'll get to experience many more wonderful and great things out there that, thanks to him, I have been fortunate enough to experience them myself. Without him, I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be whoever I am today. Happy Birthday Dad!!! Love you always!

Sunset

This photo was taken while I was walking towards the South Juniors community club across the road together with my housemate. It was nearly forming the colours of the rainbow but I couldn't capture it with my phone camera. I hope one day I would be able to enjoy the scene of sunrise + sunset from the beach.

I went to check out the gym and swimming pool in the community club. After so many years of procrastination, I think i'll finally sign up for a gym membership lol~ (though procrastination hasn't ended yet since i haven't actually signed up for it). Looking at so many people exercising in the gym made me feel so fat and inactive. In one day, i've probably moved less muscles than even handicapped people LOL~ I hope Ms.paperplanes & my other housemate (Ms.E) would sign up for the gym membership as well...so that I will be more motivated to go to the gym =P

Wheat bag for the cold winter

Just when i thought winter has ended and the sun has been shining brightly, the past few nights proved me wrong. I have already returned my heater to the landlord and without access to anything warmer than two layers of quilt, i decided to make myself a wheat bag. A certain nature of wheat makes it a good retainer of heat and cold, making it a perfect heat pad for sore neck/muscle and cold pad for bruises. I came across so many cute wheat bags online together with their free patterns, but since i don't have a sewing machine, I could only come up with a very simple wheat bag: a knee-high sock (perfectly brand new) filled with organic wheat and english rose pot pourri!

To prevent the wheat from forming a big bulge at one end when i filled up the sock, I divided the sock into 4 compartments and sew a horizontal line across the black stripes (to conceal my poor sewing skills) after each 1/4 of the sock has been filled. Next, put it into the microwave and heat it up for 3 minutes together with a cup water to prevent the wheat from drying up. Voila! A scented wheat bag perfect for the cold nights!!


When I can get my hands on some fancy cloths, I will definitely make more of this!!! One thing to note: never leave it in the microwave oven unsupervised and 4 minutes maximum. Longer than 4 minutes might make the wheat bag too hot for comfort.

John west Tuna & Beans challenge

I received my John West Tuna & Beans few weeks ago in the Nuffnang welcome pack. I haven't managed to stretch my cooking imagination too far yet, so i decided to follow the recipe posted by Leigh in here and make my own variations:

- John West Tuna & Beans (Capsicum, sweet corn, red kidney beans & chilli)
- Turkey strips
- Ham
- Mozzarella cheese
- Leggo's pizza sauce sachets


Sneak peek while it's sizzling and baking in the oven:

Tadaa!!!


I wasn't so optimistic about the taste at first because i don't really like kidney beans. But as I opened the can, the smell of tuna & capsicum was so overwhelming that I don't even care about the kidney beans anymore!!! If i wasn't so focused on my hesitation towards the kidney beans at first, I would've used the spork and eat it out of the can right away!


Another highlight to this pizza is the Leggo's pizza sauce! It would make a beginner cook like me seem like a pizza master. It tasted just like those pizza paste from Domino's and other pizza stores. I will not hesitate to buy John West Tuna & Beans from Coles during my next grocery shopping, and I'll make more pizzas from the remaining 3 sachets of Leggo's pizza sauce and pizza bases!!!

Thanks Nuffnang for this delicious meal and Leigh for the creative ideas!!

Cookie Tiramisu

I've been craving for cold desserts since last night so tonight I decided to make this cookie tiramisu, taken from Ms.paperplane's blog here. It's still 2 hours away before I can eat it though... I didn't put the chocolate syrup on top like Ms. paperplanes did because it'll be smudged away when i covered it. Below is my poor attempt at decorating it with choco chips instead:
I hope it'll turn out as good as the one Ms.paperplanes made before!


Thank's Ms.paperplanes for the recipe!!!

Caramel pork with noodles

Another dish taken from the recipes+ magazine: Caramel pork with noodles! This was my first attempt at cooking a pork dish. My shoulder and arm still hurts from trying to cut the pork spare ribs into 2-3cm pieces using the unbelievable blunt knives at home.My cutter/pen-knife could have been sharper than those knives. It's really time to buy a knife-sharpener / new knife.


The noodle turned out pretty good...but I don't like the caramel pork even though my housemate said it was pretty okay. Perhaps it's my obsession with chicken in play. Another reminder for myself and fellow beginner-cooks out there: don't use frozen chunky vegetable mix in your cookings unless you really have to. They taste weird =P

Chicken & Rocket fettucine

This has to be one of the best home-made pasta that i've ever made!! I've always used simple ingredients including off-the-shelf tomato pasta sauce for nearly all the fettucine/spaghetti i've made in the past and I have to admit i'm getting bored of the taste. So I decided to give this recipe a go. This recipe was taken from the September'09 edition of recipes+ that my housemate bought and it was actually taken from the "Ready steady cook" cooking game show on channel 10. I haven't been following the show on tv but I really recommend buying the recipes+ magazine (it costs only AU$3.30!) and it's full of recipes that is beginner and wallet-friendly!!


It was originally "Turkey & Rocket Fettucine" but I substituted turkey with chicken because turkey's more expensive & I might overcook the turkey strips. It turned out really good nevertheless and my housemate even wanted to try cooking it in the future!!


The photo didn't do the fettucine much justice =P It tasted so much better than it looks.
Below is the recipe for Ms.paperplanes who plans to make it for her sweetheart when he comes back to Sydney and those of you who wanted to try the-best-home-made-fettucine-that-you'll-ever-taste lol~ :

Turkey & Rocket Fettucine

+ Top tip Don't overcook turkey strips, as they have very little fat and can dry out quickly. + If stir-fry strips are unavailable, use thinly sliced chicken breast fillets.

Serves 4
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes

375g fettucine
1 tablespoon olive oil
500g turkey stir-fry strips
1 medium brown onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
150g tub rocket pesto
1 cup cream
1/3 cup torn basil leaves, plus extra leaves, to garnish
Shaved parmesan, to serve

1. Cook pasta in plenty of boiling salted water for 10 - 12 minutes or until tender but firm to the bite. Drain; return to pan.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large frying pan over moderate heat. Cook turkey, in batches, for 1 - 2minutes or until seared. Transfer to a heatproof bowl. Add onion and garlic to pan; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until onion softens.

3. Return all turkey to pan with pesto and cream. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer; stirring occasionally, for 2 - 3 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly.

4. Add turkey mixture and torn basil to pasta; toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon into bowls. Serve at once, topped with parmesan and garnished with extra basil.

Apart from the meat substitution, I also left out the basil leaves since i'm not really a big fan of it...which is probably why the photo of my fettucine doesn't look that mouth-watering. Hehe.... And being a beginner in the kitchen, I couldn't figure out what rocket pesto looked like. I only came across this Rocket pesto on my 2nd grocery-shopping-trip:


Good luck to all of you pasta-lovers!!! You won't be disappointed~!!

Growing my own garlic

I've been wanting to try growing some garlic because it seems to be one of the easiest plant to grow. You'll just have to leave it in your pantry for one week, and you can already see a tiny shoot coming out of it. After picking some of the garlic cloves from my cooking, I put each one (pointy-side up) into an ice cream tub filled with some potting mix that I got from my friend. I covered the top loosely with the potting mix to give them some space.


Hopefully 2 weeks later, I would be able to see some tiny shoot =P

Nuffnang welcome pack

The first thing I saw when I woke up this morning was this:


I was sooooo excited because I've never received something this big through the mail before! Ms. paperplanes mentioned about this welcome pack to me before but I didn't expect to receive it this fast!! Inside this fabulous box are these goodies:

A thank-you note from Nuffnang together with Coles & Myer $10 Gift card.

And many more goodies from Coles Group & Myer Gift Cards, Redken, John West, Leggo’s, and Spring Valley!

I've been cooking a lot lately so i'm sure I will find John West's tuna & beans and Leggo's Italian beef casserole useful for my culinary adventure (^_^) As for Redken's hair products, they will definitely aid me in my attempt to find the perfect haircare products for my hair.

Just when I was brainstorming my ideas about the perfect way to spend my $10 Coles & Myer gift card in order to try my luck at turning $10 to $100, I found out that the Nuffnang Coles & Myer gift card competition is already closed!! *sobs* Nevertheless, I will still try my best to come up with my own way of spending that $10 gift card. Afterall, it's the adventure of discovering the ways in which I can utilise the $10 that matters.

I'd like to thank Nuffnang for the welcome pack, and Ms.paperplanes for introducing me to Nuffnang. Blogging has never been more fun!!